MISS BEECHER'S 



DOMESTIC RECEIPT BOOK: 



DESIGNED AS A 



SUPPLEMENT 



TREATISE ON DOMESTIC ECONOMY 



NEW YORK: 
HARPER & BROTHERS, 82 CLIFF STREET, 

1846. 



A? 



s. 






X v ^ 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1846, by 

Harper & Brothers, 
In the Clerk's Office of the Southern District of New- York. 






r\ 



\ 



*) 



PREFACE. 



a* 



The following objects are aimed at in this work : 

First, to furnish an original collection of receipts, which 
shall embrace a great variety of simple and well-cooked 
dishes, designed for every-day comfort and enjoyment. 

Second, to include in the collection only such receipts as 
have been tested by superior housekeepers, and warranted 
to be the best. It is not a book made up in any department 
by copying from other books, but entirely from the experi- 
ence of the best practical housekeepers. 

Third, to express every receipt in language which is short, 
simple, and perspicuous, and yet to give all directious so 
minutely as that the book can be kept in the kitchen, and 
be used by any domestic who can read, as a guide in every 
one of her employments in the kitchen. 

Fourth, to furnish such directions in regard to small din- 
ner-parties and evening company as will enable any young 
housekeeper to perform her part, on such occasions, with 
ease, comfort, and success. 

Fifth, to present a good supply of the rich and elegant 
dishes demanded at entertainments, and yet to set forth a 
large variety of what is both healthful and good, in con- 
nexion with warnings and suggestions which it is hoped 
may avail to promote a more healthful fashion in regard 
both to entertainments and to daily table supplies. No 
book of this kind will sell without receipts for the rich ar- 
ticles which custom requires, and in furnishing them, the 
writer has aimed to follow the example of Providence, which 
scatters profusely both good and ill, and combines therewith 
the caution alike of experience, revelation, and conscience, 
" choose ye that which is good, that ye and your seed may 
live." 

Sixth, in the work on Domestic Economy, together with 



IV PREFACE. 

this, to which it is a Supplement, the writer has attempted to 
secure in a cheap and popular form, for American house- 
keepers, a work similar to an English work which she has 
examined, entitled the Encyclopedia of Domestic Economy, 
by Thomas Webster and Mrs. Parkes, containing over 
twelve hundred octavo pages of closely-printed matter, treat- 
ing on every department of Domestic Economy ; a work 
which will be found much more useful to English women, 
who have a plenty of money and well-trained servants, than 
to American housekeepers. It is believed that most, in that 
work, which would be of any practical use to American 
housekeepers, will be found in this work and the Domestic 
Economy. 

Lastly, the writer has aimed to avoid the defects complain- 
ed of by most housekeepers in regard to works of this descrip- 
tion, issued in this country, or sent from England, such as 
that, in some cases, the receipts are so rich as to be both ex- 
pensive and unhealthful ; in others, that they are so vaguely 
expressed as to be very imperfect guides ; in others, that 
the processes are so elaborate and fussing as to make double 
the work that is needful ; and in others, that the topics are 
so limited that some departments are entirely omitted, and 
all are incomplete. 

In accomplishing these objects, the writer has received 
contributions of the pen, and verbal communications, from 
some of the most judicious and practical housekeepers, in 
almost every section of this country. 



CONTENTS 



CAAPTER I. 



ON SELECTING FOOD AND DRINKS WITH REFERENCE TO HEALTH. 

Nourishing and unstimulatmg Food. Nourishing and stimulating 
food. Food that stimulates without nourishing. Food that is en- 
tirely Undigestible. Food that is unhealthful in nature, or made 
so by cooking. Liquid aliments, or drinks. Other liquid ali- 
ments, or drinks, - - - - * - - - - 1 



CHAPTER II. 



MARKETING CARE AND USES OF MEATS. 

Selection and uses of meats. Modes of cooking and using the dif- 
ferent parts of animals. Beef. Veal. Mutton. Pork. Mar- 
keting. On the Cure of Meats. Directions for cutting up a Hog. 
To try out Lard. Directions for salting down Pork. Mr. H. H.'s 
Receipt for Curing Hams. To prepare Cases for Sausages. 
Sausage Meat. Bologna Sausages. Another Receipt for Sausage 
Meat. Pickle for Beef, Pork, Tongues, or Hung Beef. Another 
by measure, and with less trouble. To salt down Beef to keep the 
year round. To Cleanse Calf's Head and Feet. To Prepare 
Rennet, - 26 



CHAPTER III. 

BOILED MEATS. 

To cook a Ham (very fine). Smoked Boiled Tongues. A la Mode 
Beef. Another a. la Mode Beef. To Boil a Leg of Veal or Mut- 
ton. Pot Pie, of Beef, Veal, or Chicken. Calf's Head. Curried 
Dishes. To Prepare Curry Powder. Veal Stew. Another Veal 
Stew (very fine). To Stew Birds. A fine Mutton Stew. A Sau- 
sage Stew. To Bake Beef. Beef, or Mutton and Potatoe Pie. 
To Cook Pigeons. Beef or Veal Stewed with Apples (very good). 
To Boil a Turkey. To Boil Corned Beef, - ... 36 



VI CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER IV. 



ROASTED AND BAKED MEATS. 

General Remarks. Roast Beef. Roast Lamb. Roast Mutton. 
Roast Veal. To Roast a Fillet or Leg of Veal. Baked, or Roast- 
ed Pig. To Roast a Spare Rib. Roast Turkey. Roast Goose. 
Roast Chickens. Roast Ducks. Mutton and Beef Pie. Chicken 
Pie. Mutton Haricot. To Cook a Shoulder of Lamb. Rice 
Chicken Pie. Potatoe Pie, - 43 



CHAPTER V. 

FRIED AND BROILED MEATS. 

General Remarks. A nice Way of Cooking Calf's or Pig's Liver. 
Fried Veal Cutlets. Fricassee Chickens. Meats Warmed over. 
A nice Way of Cooking Cold Meats. A Hash of Cold Meat for 
Dinner (very good). Cold Meat Turnovers. Head Cheese. 
Souse. Tripe. Force Meat Balls (another Hash.) To Prepare 
Cold Beef Steaks. A nice Way of Cooking Cold Boiled Ham. 
Another way of Cooking Cold Ham. A Veal Hash. Veal Balls 
(another Hash). Broiled Meats. General Remarks. Broiled Ham. 
Broiled Veal Cutlets. Broiled Mutton Chops. Broiled Pork 
Steaks. Beef Steaks. Beef Liver. To Poach Eggs. To Boil 
Eggs. A Salt Relish. Egg Frizzle (very good). Frizzled Beef. 
Veal Cheese. A Codfish Relish. Another Way. Salt Her- 
rings, - - - - - - - - - -50 



CHAPTER VI. 

SOUPS. 

French Vegetable Soup. Plain Calf's Head Soup. An Excellent 
Simple Mutton Soup. Pea Soup. Portable Soup. A Rich Mock 
Turtle Soup. Another Dry Pea Soup. Clam Soup. Oyster 
Soup. Veal Soup. Macaroni Soup (Mrs. F.'s Receipt). South- 
ern Gumbo (Mrs. L.'s Receipt). Giblet Soup, - - - 57 



CHAPTER VII. 

FISH. 

Directions for making Chowder. To Fry Fish. To Boil Fish. 
To Broil Fish. Baked Fish. Cod Sounds and Tongues. To 
Cook Salt Codfish. To Cook Cold Codfish. To Cook Oysters. 



CONTENTS. Vll 

Lobsters. Scolloped Oysters. Pickled Oysters. To Crimp Fresh 
Fish. To Cook Eels. To Cook Scoi lops. A Good Way of Using 
Cold Fresh Fish. To Cook Clams, 62 



CHAPTER VIII. 

ON THE PREPARATION OF HASHES, GRAVIES, AND SAUCES. 

To prepare Gravy for a Cold Beef Hash, or Steak Hash. Gravy 
for a Mutton Hash, or Venison Hash. To prepare a Veal Hash. 
Common Gravies. Drawn Butter, or Melted Butter. Another 
Mode of preparing Drawn Butter. Drawn Meat Gravies, or 
Brown Gravies. Nice Article to use for Gravy, or Soup. Burnt 
Butter for Fish, or Eggs. Sauce for Salad, or Fish. Wine Sauce 
for Mutton or Venison. Oyster Sauce. Lobster Sauce. Apple 
Sauce. Celery Sauce for Boiled Fowls. Celery Vinegar. Es- 
sence of Celery, to flavor Soup. Herb Spirit. Soup Powder. 
Soy. Tomato Catsup. Mushroom Catsup. Walnut Catsup, - 66 



CHAPTER IX. 

VEGETABLES. 

Potatoes. Boiled Potatoes. Other JVIodes of Cooking Potatoes. 
Turnips. Asparagus. Beets. Parsnips and Carrots. Onions. 
Jerusalem Artichokes. Squashes. Cabbage and Cauliflowers. 
Peas. Sweet Corn. Succatosh. Beans. Egg Plant. Baked 
Beans. Tomatoes. Greens. Cucumbers. Macaroni. Another 
Way, To Cook Hominy. Macaroni Pudding, to eat with Meat. 
Salad. Mode of Dressing Salad. Mushroom. Celeriac. Sal- 
sify, or Vegetable Oyster. Southern Mode of Cooking Rice. 
Common Mode of Cooking Rice. Best Mode of Cooking Toma- 
toes. Sweet Potatoes. Artichokes. Stewed Egg Plant, - 73 



CHAPTER X. 



OVENS, YEAST, BREAD, AND BISCUIT. 

On Constructing and Heating an Oven. How to know when an 
Oven is at the right Heat. How to know when Bread is Sour, 
or Heavy. How to treat Eread when taken from the Oven. 
Yeast. Potatoe Yeast. Home-made Yeast, which will keep good 
a Month. Home-brewed Yeast more easily made. Hard Yeast. 
Rubs, or Flour Hard Yeast. Milk Yeast. Wheat Bread of Distil- 
lery, or Brewer's Yeast. Wheat Bread of Home-brewed Yeast. 
Baker's Bread. Wheat Bread of Potatoe Yeast. Potatoe Bread. 
Cream Tartar Bread. Eastern Brown Bread. Rye Bread. Rice 
Bread. — No. 1. Rice Bread. — No. 2. Apple Bread. Pumpkin 



Vlll CONTENTS. 

Bread. Walnut Hill's Brown Bread. French Rolls, or Twists. 
Raised Biscuit. Very Nice Rusk. Potatoe Biscuit. Crackers. 
Hard Biscuit. Sour Milk Biscuit. A good Way to use Sour Bread, 83 



CHAPTER XI. 



BREAKFAST AND TEA CAKES. 

General Directions for Griddle and other Breakfast Cakes. Buck- 
wheat Cakes wet with Water. Extempore Buckwheat Cakes. 
Buckwheat Cakes wet with Milk. Griddle Cakes of Unbolted 
Wheat. Best Rice Griddle Cakes. A very delicate Omelet. 
Wheat Waffles. Miss B.'s Waffles (without yeast). Rice Waf- 
fles. Good Cakes for Tea, or Breakfast. Fried Rice for Break- 
fast. Fried Hominy. Rye Drop Cake (excellent). Wheat Drop 
Cake. Corn Griddle Cakes with Yeast. Pilgrim Cake. Sour 
Milk Corn Cake. Corn Muffins (from the South). Corn Griddle 
Cakes with Eggs. Sachem's Head Corn Cake. Royal Crumpets. 
Bachelor's Corn Cake. Mrs. W.'s Corn Cake. Corn Muffins. 
Savoy Biscuit. Cream Cakes. Wheat Muffins. Albany Break- 
fast Cakes. Sally Lunn. Cream Tea Cakes. Buttermilk Short 
Cakes. Wafers. Pennsylvania Flannel Cakes. Kentucky Corn 
Dodgers. Ohio Corn Cake. Scarborough Puffs. Cream Griddle 
Cakes. Crumpets. Fine Cottage Cheese, - - - - 94 



CHAPTER XII. 



PLAIN PUDDINGS AND PIES. 

General Direction's in regard to Puddings and Custards. Little 
Girl's Pie. Little Boy's Pudding. Children's Fruit Dumpling. 
Birth-day Pudding. Children's Boiled Fruit Pudding. English 
Curd Pie. Fruit Fritters. Common Apple Pie. Plain Custard. 
A Richer Custard. Another Custard. Mush, or Hasty Pudding. 
Stale Bread Fritters (fine). To prepare Rennet. Rennet Cus- 
tard. Bird's Nest Pudding. A Minute Pudding of Potatoe Starch. 
Tapioca Pudding. Sago Pudding. Cocoanut Pudding (Plain). 
New England Squash, or Pumpkin Pie. Ripe Fruit Pies. Bat- 
ter Pudding. Mock Cream. Bread Pudding. Sunderland Pud- 
ding. An Excellent Apple Pie. Boiled Apple Pudding. Spiced 
Apple Tarts. Boiled Indian Pudding. Baked Indian Pudding. 
Rice Balls, or German Pudding. Apple Custard. Rhubarb Pie. 
Plain Macaroni or Vermacelli Puddings. Green Corn Pudding. 
Bread Pudding for Invalids, or Young Children. Plain Rice 
Pudding, without Eggs. Another Sago Pudding. Oat Meal 
Mush. Modes of Preparing Apples for the Table. Fruit Cus- 
tards. Modes of Preparing Rice for the Dinner or Tea Table. 
Rice and Meat Pudding. Modes of preparing Dishes with Dry 
Bread, or Pread so old as to be not good for the table, - - 104 



CONTENTS. IX 

CHAPTER XIII. 

RICH PUDDINGS AND PIES. 

Ellen's Pudding, or Rhubarb Tart. Nottingham Pudding. Rice 
Plum Pudding. Eve's Pudding (the best kind). Baked English 
Plum Pudding. A Boiled English Plum Pudding. Almond 
Cheese Cake. Cocoanut Pudding. Arrowroot Pudding. Ground 
Rice Pudding. Mrs. O.'s Pumpkin Pie. Cracker Plum Pudding 
(excellent). Minced Pie. Marlborough Pudding. Orange, or 
Lemon Pudding. Sweet Potatoe Pudding. Quince Pudding. 
Paste for Puddings and Pies. Healthful Pie Crusts. Paste made 
with Butter. Directions for making Paste. Puff Paste. Sauces 
for Puddings. Liquid Sauce. Hard Sauce. A Healthful Pud- 
ding Sauce. An excellent Sauce for Boiled Rice, . . . 1*21 



CHAPTER XIV. 
PLAIN CAKES. 

General Directions for Making Cake. Rose Butter. Directions for 
Cleansing Currants. Frosting for Cake. Cake Frosting (an- 
other, which is harder). Good Child's Cake. Ginger Snaps. 
Child's Feather Cake. Best Molasses Gingerbread. Sponge 
Gingerbread. Cider Cake. Cup Cake without Eggs. Cream 
Cake without Eggs. Cream Tartar Cake, without Eggs. Fruit 
Cake without Eggs. Drop Cake. Sugar Gingerbread (rich). 
Sugar Gingerbread (plainer). Sponge Cake. Bridget's Bread 
Cake (excellent). Doughnuts. Cookies (plain). French Cake. 
Walnut Hill's Doughnuts. Cocoanut Cup Cake. Cocoanut 
Sponge Cake. Lemon Cake. — No. 1. Gingernuts. Honey 
Cake. New Year's Cookies. Boston Cream Cake. Almond, 
Hickory, or Cocoanut Cake. Caraway Cakes. Fruit Drop Cakes. 
Dr. B.'s Loaf Cake. Fancy Cakes. Fried Curd Cakes. Wine 
Cake. Egg Rusk. Citron Tea Cakes. French Biscuit (Mrs. 
Dr. C), 130 



CHAPTER XV. 

RICH CAKES. 

Old Hartford Election Cake (100 years old). Raised Loaf Cake. 
Mrs. H.'s Raised Wedding Cake (very fine). Yeast for the above 
Cake. Fruit Cake, or Black Cake. Pound Cake. French Loaf 
Cake. Portugal Cake. Golden Cake. Silver Cake. Shrews- 
bury Cake. Queen's Cake. Crullars. Lemon Cake. — No. 2. 
Almond Cake. Lemon Drop Cakes. Jelly Cake. Cocoanut 
Drops. Sugar Drops, - - - - - - - -146 



X \ CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

PRESERVES AND JELLIES. 

General Directions for making Preserves and Jellies. To Clarify 
Syrup for Sweetmeats. Brandy Peaches. Peaches (not very 
rich). Peaches (very elegant). To preserve Quinces Whole. 
Quince Jelly. Calf's Foot Jelly. To preserve Apples. Pear. 
Pineapple (very fine). Purple Plum. — No. 1. To preserve 
Oranges. Purple Plum. — No. 2. White, or Green Plum. Cit- 
ron Melon. Strawberries. Blackberry Jam. To preserve Cur- 
rants to eat with Meat. Cherries. Currants. Raspberry Jam. — 
No. 1. Raspberry Jam. — No. 2. Currant Jelly. Quince Mar- 
malade. Preserved Watermelon Rinds. Preserved Pumpkin, - 153 



CHAPTER XVII. 

PICKLES. 

To Pickle Tomatoes. To Pickle Peaches. To Pickle Peppers. To 
Pickle Nasturtions. To Pickle Onions. To Pickle Gherkins. 
To Pickle Mushrooms. To Pickle Cucumbers. Pickled Walnuts. 
Mangoes. Fine Pickled Cabbage. An excellent Way of Prepa- 
ring Tomatoes to eat with Meat. To Pickle Martinoes. A con- 
venient Way to Pickle Cucumbers. Indiana Pickles. To Pickle 
Cauliflower, or Brocoli, - - - - - - - t(i5 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

ARTICLES FOR DESSERTS AND EVENING PARTIES. 

Ice Cream. Directions for freezing Ice Cream. Philadelphia Ice 
Cream. Another Ice Cream. Strawberry Ice Cream. Ice Cream 
without Cream. Fruit Ice Cream. Rich Custards. Wine Cream 
Custard. Almond Custard. A Cream for Stewed Fruit. Cur- 
rant, Raspberry, or Strawberry Whisk. Lemonade Ice, and other 
Ices. Lemon and Orange Cream. Vanilla Cream. A Charlotte 
Russe. A Plainer Charlotte Russe. A Superior Omelette Souflee. 
Almond Cheese Cake. Flummery. Chicken Salad. Gelatine, 
or American Isinglass Jelly. Oranges in Jelly. Jelly Tarts. 
Sweet Paste Jelly Tarts. An Apple Lemon Pudding. Buttermilk 
Pop. Wheat Flour Blanc Mange. Orange Marmalade. A sim- 
ple Lemon Jelly (easily made). Cranberry. Fruits Preserved 
without Cooking. Apple Ice (very fine). Lemon, or Orange Ice 
Cream. Cream Tarts. Whip Syllabub. Trifles. Nothings. 
Apple Snow. Iced Fruit. Ornamental Froth. To Clarify Isin- 
glass. Blanc Mange. Calf's Foot Blanc Mange. Variegated 
Blanc Mange. Jaune Mange. Ivory Dust Jelly. Apple Jelly. 



CONTEXTS. XI 

Another Lemon Jelly. Orange Jelly. Floating Island. An- 
other Syllabub. An Ornamental Dish. Carrageen Blanc Mange 
(Irish Moss). A Dish of Snow. To Clarify Sugar. To Prepare 
Sugar for Candies. Sugar Kisses. Almond Macaroons. Filbert 
Macaroons. Cocoanut Drops. Candied Fruits. Another Way. 
To make an Ornamental Pyramid for a Table, - 165 



CHAPTER XIX. 

TEMPERANCE DRINKS. 

Ginger Beer Powders, and Soda Powders. Currant Ice Water. 
Sarsaparilla Mead. Effervescing Fruit Drinks. Effervescing 
Jelly Drinks. Summer Beverage. Simple Ginger Beer. Orange, 
or Lemon Syrup. Acid Fruit Syrups. Imitation Lemon Syrup. 
Superior Ginger Beer. Lemon Sherbet. Orange Sherbet. Sham 
Champagne. Coffee. Fish Skin for Coffee. Chocolate. Cocoa 
and Shells. Tea. Ochra. Children's Drinks. White Tea. 
Boy's Coffee. Strawberry Vinegar. Royal Strawberry Acid. 
Delicious Milk Lemonade. Portable Lemonade, --■•-'- 183 

CHAPTER XX. 

RECEIPTS FOR FOOD AND DRINKS FOR THE SICK. 

General Remarks on the Preparation of Articles for the Sick. An 
Excellent Relish for a Convalescent. Several Ways of Preparing 
Chickens for the Sick. Milk Porridge. Rice Gruel, and Oatmeal 
Gruel. Arrowroot and Tapioca Gruels. Dropped Egg. Wheat 
Gruel for Young Children with weak stomachs, or for Invalids. 
Another Panada. Herb Drinks. Other Simple Drinks. Cream 
Tartar Whey. Simple Wine Whey. A great Favorite with In- 
valids. A New Way of making Barley Water. Panada. Arrow- 
root Blanc Mange. Rice Flour Blanc Mange. Another Receipt 
for American Isinglass Jelly. Tapioca Jelly. Caudle. Sago 
Jelly. Spiced Chocolate. Barley Water. Water Gruel. Beef 
Tea. Tomato Syrup. Arrowroot Custard for Invalids. Sago for 
Invalids. Rice Jelly. Sassafras Jelly. Buttermilk Whey. Alum 
Whey. Another Wine Whey. Mulled Wine. Tamarind Whey. 
Egg Tea and Egg Coffee (very fine). Cranberry Tea. Apple 
Tea. Egg and Milk. Sago Milk. Tapioca Milk. Bread and 
Milk. Egg Gruel. Ground Rice Gruel. Oatmeal Gruel. Sim- 
ple Barley Water. Compound Barley Water. Cream Tartar 
Beverage. Seidlitz Powders. Blackberry Syrup, for Cholera and 
Summer Complaint. Remarks on the Combinations of Cooking, 191 

CHAPTER XXI. 

ON MAKING BUTTER AND CHEESE. 

Articles used in Making Cheese. Mode of Preparing the Rennet. 
To Make Cheese. To Scald the Curd. Directions for making 
Butter, 204 



Xll CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XXII. 
ARTICLES AND CONVENIENCES FOR THE SICK, - - 209 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE PROVIDING AND CARE OF FAMILY STORES, - -217 

CHAPTER XXIV. 

SUGGESTIONS IN REFERENCE TO PROVIDING A SUCCESSIVE 
VARIETY OF FOOD. 

Directions for Preserving Fruits and Vegetables, - 223 

CHAPTER XXV. 
ON BREAD MAKING, .-.--.. 227 

CHAPTER XXVI. 

DIRECTIONS FOR DINNER AND EVENING PARTIES. 

Setting the Table. Taking up the Dinner. Tea Parties and Even- 
ing Company, ---------- 234 

CHAPTER XXVII. 

ON SETTING TABLES, AND PREPARING VARIOUS ARTICLES 

OF FOOD FOR THE TABLE, ----- 243 

CHAPTER XXVIII. 

ON SYSTEMATIC FAMILY ARRANGEMENT, AND MODE OF DOING 

WORK. 

Directions for the Cook. Directions for the Chambermaid. Odds 
and Ends. - " *^' 



CONTENTS. Xlll 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

ON A PROPER SUPPLY OF UTENSILS AND CONVENIENCES FOR 
HOUSEKEEPING. 

Kitchen Furniture, --------- 252 



CHAPTER XXX. 

SUGGESTIONS IN REGARD TO HIRED SERVICE, - - 269 

CHAPTER XXXI. 

ON THE STYLE OF LIVING AND EXPENSES, - - 273 

CHAPTER XXXII. 

WORDS OF COMFORT FOR A DISCOURAGED HOUSEKEEPER, 276 

CHAPTER XXXIII. 

FRIENDLY COUNSELS FOR DOMESTICS, - - - 280 

CHAPTER XXXIV. 

MISCELLANEOUS ADVICE, AND SUPPLEMENTARY RECEIPTS. 

Weights and Measures. Avoirdupois Weight. Apothecaries' Weight. 
On Purchasing Wood. Items of Advice. To make nice Crayons 
for Blackboards. Some excellent Cheap Dishes. Stewed Beef. 
Tomato Beef. A good Way to use Cold Rice. To prepare Good 
Toast. A Good Pudding. Loaf Pudding. A Plain Lemon Pud- 
ding. An Excellent Indian Pudding without Eggs. Pork and 
Potato Balls. Oyster Pie. Green Corn Patties (like Oysters). 
Ohio Wedding Cake (Mrs. K.). Best Way of making Corn Cakes 
of all Sorts. Molasses Candy. To make Simple Cerate. Best 
Remedy for Burns. Ginger Tea. Indian Bannock. Egg and 
Bread. Floating Island. A New Mode of cooking Cucumbers, 283 

2 



THE 



DOMESTIC RECEIPT BOOK. 



CHAPTER I. 

ON SELECTING FOOD AND DRINKS WITH REFERENCE TO HEALTH. 

A work has recently been republished in this country, 
entitled, " A Treatise on Food and Diet ; by Dr. J. 
Pereira. Edited by Dr. Charles A. LeeP "The 
author of this work," says Dr. Lee, "is well known 
throughout Europe and America, as one of the most 
learned, scientific, and practical men of the age ; — a 
physician of great experience and accurate observation, 
and a highly successful writer. To the medical profes- 
sion he is most favorably known as the author of the 
best work on the Materia Medica which has appeared 
in our language." 

This work contains the principles discovered by Lei- 
big, Dumas, and Brossingault, and applies them practi- 
cally to the subject of the proper selection of food. All 
the opinions, expressed in what follows, are sanctioned 
by the above work, by Dr. Combe, and by most of the 
distinguished practitioners of our age and country. 

In selecting food, with reference to health, the follow- 
ing principles must be borne in mind. 

First, that there are general rides in regard to health- 
ful food and drink, which have been established, not by 
a few, but by thousands and thousands of experiments, 
through many ages, and in an immense variety of cir- 
cumstances. It is these great principles, which must 



2 ON SELECTING FOOD AND DRINKS 

be the main dependance of every mother and house- 
keeper, to guide her in selecting healthful food and drinks 
for her children and family. These rules are furnished 
by medical writers and practitioners. 

Secondly, there are occasional exceptions to these gen- 
eral rules, and when such occur, two errors should be 
avoided. One is, giving up all confidence in the deduc- 
tions of a wide experience, established by extensive ex- 
periments, and assuming that we have no rules at all, 
and that every person must follow the guidance of mere 
appetite, or his own limited experience. The other is, 
making the exception into a general rule, and maintain- 
ing that every person must conform to it. 

For example, it is found by general experience, that 
milk is a very safe and healthful article of food, and that 
alcoholic drinks are very unhealthful. But there are 
cases which seem to be exceptions to this rule ; for some 
children never can eat milk without being made sick, 
and there are cases known where men have lived to a 
very advanced age and in perfect health, who have daily 
used alcoholic drinks, even to the point of intoxication. 

Still, it is very unwise to throw away the general rule 
and say, that it is just as well for children to drink alco- 
holic drinks as to use milk, — and as unwise to claim 
that every person must give up the use of milk because 
a few are injured by it. 

The true method is, to take the general rules obtained 
by abundant experience for our guide, and when any 
exceptions are found, to regard them as exceptions, 
which do not vacate the general rule, nor make it need- 
ful to conform all other cases to this exception. 

It will be the object of what follows, to point out the 
general rules, which are to regulate in the selection of 
drinks and diet, leaving it to each individual to ascer- 
tain, by experiments, what are, and what are not the ex- 
ceptions. 

In the first place, then, it is a general rule that man 
needs a variety of aliment, so that it is unfavorable to 
health to be confined to only one kind of food 

The various textures of the human body are com- 



WITH REFERENCE TO HEALTH. 3 

posed of chemical compounds, which differ from each 
other, both as to ingredients, and as to modes of combi- 
nation. It is true, that every portion of the body may 
be resolved to a few simple elements, of which oxygen, 
hydrogen, carbon, and nitrogen are the chief. But the 
bodily organs have not the power of forming all the va- 
rious animal tissues from these simple elements. In- 
stead of this, they must be introduced into the body in 
various complex and different combinations, as they ex- 
ist in the forms of gluten, nbrine, albumen, caseine, and 
other animal and vegetable compounds. 

Thus the sugar, starch, and oils, found in certain 
kinds of food, supply the carbon which sustain the com- 
bustion ever carried on in the lungs by the process of 
breathing, and which is the grand source of animal heat. 
On the contrary, the blood, muscles, skin, cartilages, 
and other parts of the body, are daily nourished and re- 
newed, some by the gluten contained in wheat, others 
by the albumen of eggs, others by the caseine of milk, 
and others by the Jihrine of animals. All these are 
found in a great variety of articles used as food. When 
received into the stomach, the organs of digestion and 
assimilation prepare, and then carry them, each to its 
own appropriate organ, and then the excreting organs 
throw off the surplus. 

In order, then, to have every portion of the body prop- 
erly developed, it is necessary to take such a variety of 
food, that from one source or another, eveiy organ of the 
body shall be sustained by its appropriate nourishment. 
The experiments which prove this, have been conducted 
on a great scale ; and the method and results are detailed 
in the work of Dr. Pereira. 

This fact exhibits one cause of the craving, sometimes 
felt for certain kinds of food, which usually is the call 
of nature for some ingredient, that the daily round of 
aliment does not supply. The statistics furnished in the 
work of Dr. Pereira, from various armies, prisons, alms- 
houses, and asylums, show, that, where many hundreds 
are fed on the same diet, the general health of the mul- 
titude is better sustained by a considerable variety and 



4 ON SELECTING FOOD AND DRINKS 

occasional changes, than by a more restricted selection. 
Experiments on dogs and other animals, also, have been 
tried on a large scale, which prove that there is no kind 
of food, which, alone, will preserve fall and perfect health ; 
while every kind (except the food containing gluten, 
which is the chief ingredient of wheat and other bread- 
stuffs), when given exclusively, eventually destroys life. 
The exclusive use of wheat bread and potatoes, as found 
by experiment, will sustain life and health more per- 
fectly, for a great length of time, than any other kinds 
of food. 

The above fact is a striking exhibition of the benefi- 
cence of Providence, in providing such an immense va- 
riety of articles of food. And no less so is the instinct 
of appetite, which demands not only a variety, but is 
wearied with one unchanging round. 

Having ascertained that it is needful to health, that a 
due variety of food should be secured, we next proceed 
to examine the principles that are to guide us in the se- 
lection. 

It is found that the articles used for food and drink 
may be arranged in the following classes : — 

First, articles that furnish no other stimulation to the 
animal functions than is secured by the fresh supply of 
nutrition. All food that nourishes the body, in one 
sense, may be called stimulating, inasmuch as it imparts 
renewed energies to the various bodily functions. In 
this sense even bread is a stimulant. But the more com- 
mon idea attached to the word stimulant is, that it is a 
principle which imparts a speed and energy to the organs 
of the system above the ordinary point secured by per- 
fect and appropriate nourishment. The first class, then, 
are those articles that serve to nourish and develop per- 
fectly every animal function, but do not increase the 
strength and speed of organic action above the point of 
full nourishment. The bread-stuffs, vegetables, fruits, 
sugar, salt, acid drinks, and water are of this class. 

Secondly, those articles, which serve to nourish per- 
fectly all the animal system, and at the same time in- 
crease the strength and speed of all functional action. 



WITH REFERENCE TO HEALTH. 5 

All animal food is of this class. All physiologists and 
medical men agree in the fact, that the pulse and all 
the organs of the body, are not only nourished, but are 
quickened in action by animal food, while speed and 
force are reduced by confining the diet to farinaceous, 
vegetable, and fruit diet. 

Thirdly, those articles which impart no nourishment 
at all to the body, but act solely to stimulate all the or- 
gans to preternatural action. Alcoholic drinks, condi- 
ments, and aromatic oils are of this description. 

Fourthly, articles that are neither nourishing nor stim- 
ulating, but pass out of the system entirely undigested 
and unassimilated. The bran of coarse bread is an ex- 
ample. 

Fifthly, articles that, either from their nature or modes 
of combination and cooking, are difficult of digestion, 
unhealthful, and, of course, tend to weaken the organic 
powers by excessive or unnatural action. Animal oils, 
either cooked or rancid, and many articles badly cooked, 
are of this kind. 

NOURISHING AND UNSTIMULATED FOOD. 

The following presents a list of the articles which are 
found to be healthful and nourishing, and not stimula- 
ting, except as they supply the nourishment needed by 
the various bodily functions. 

The first and most important of these are called the 
farinaceous substances. Of these, wheat stands at the 
head, as the most nutritive, safe, and acceptable diet to 
all classes and in all circumstances. This can be used 
in the form of bread, every day, through a whole life, 
without cloying the appetite, and to an extent which 
can be said of no other food. 

Wheat is prepared in several forms, the principal of 
which are the common Fine Wheat Flour, the Unbolted, 
or Graham Flour, and Macaroni, Vermicelli, and Cag- 
liari Pastes. The last are flour paste prepared, or cut 
into various shapes and dried. 

Wheat flour is made into bread of two kinds, the fer- 
1* 



6 ON SELECTING FOOD AND DRINKS 

merited, or spongy breads, and the unfermented, or hard 
breads. 

The spongy breads are made by using either yeast, 
or the combination of an acid and alkali. In yeast 
bread, the fermentation of the particles of diffused yeast 
evolve carbonic acid. This expands the flour in a spongy 
form, in which it is retained by the tenacity of the glu- 
ten of the flour, until baking hardens it. Corn meal 
and some other bread-stuffs cannot be raised thus, be- 
cause they do not contain gluten sufficient to hold the 
carbonic acid as it evolves. 

When an alkali and acid are used to raise bread, 
their combination evolves carbonic acid by a more sud- 
den process than the yeast fermentation. The lightness 
produced by eggs is owing to their adhesive porosity 
when beaten and mixed with flour and baked. 

Bread is also made of rice, rye, Indian meal, and bar- 
ley. These varieties of bread-stuffs are useful in various 
ways. In cases w T hen persons are troubled with loose- 
ness of bowels, rice bread, rice gruel, and rice water for 
drink, prevent the necessity of resorting to medicine. 
In cases where the opposite difficulty exists, a diet of 
unbolted wheat, or rye mush with salt and molasses 
will remedy the evil. These articles also can, all of 
them, be formed into a great variety of combinations 
that are at once healthful, and acceptable to the palate. 

The next class of healthful and unstimulating articles 
are the amylaceous^ or starchy articles of diet. Of these 
Sago, Tapioca, Arrow Root, and the Lichens, are those 
in most frequent use. These are nourishing and re- 
markably easy of digestion. They are very much used 
for invalids, and for young children when first weaned. 

The next most valuable articles of food are the vege- 
tables. Of these the Potato is at once the most health- 
ful, and most universally relished. In the form of 
Starch, it makes, when cooked, a light and agreeable 
article for the sick, and is convenient to housekeepers as 
forming a fine minute pudding to meet an emergency. 

Of the great variety of vegetables that are furnished 
at market, or from our gardens, almost all are palatable 



WITH REFERENCE TO HEALTH. 7 

and healthful to a stomach that is strong. Peas, Beans, 
Onions, and cooked Cabbage and Turnips, usually are 
not good for persons whose powers of digestion have been 
weakened. 

The next most valuable articles of food are the Fruits. 
Almost all kinds of fruit, vjhen fully ripe, are healthful 
to those who are not suffering from weakness of diges- 
tion. Grapes, Apples, Peaches, Strawberries, Raspber- 
ries, and Currants, are least likely to prove injurious. 
The skins and seeds of all fruits consist of woody matter, 
that is perfectly undigestible, and should never be taken 
in large quantities. It is the skins and seeds of the 
grape that make raisins so often injurious to young chil- 
dren. If the skins and stones can be removed, nothing 
can be found that is more safe and healthful, in moder- 
ate quantities, than raisins and grapes. 

The next articles of healthful unstimulating food are 
the Saccharine substances. Sugar, Molasses, and Honey. 
On this point, Dr. Pereira remarks, * The injurious ef- 
fects which have been ascribed to sugar are more imagi- 
nary than real. The fondness of children for saccharine 
substances may be regarded as a natural instinct ; since 
nature, by placing it in the mother's milk, evidently in- 
tended it to form a part of their nourishment. Instead, 
therefore, of repressing this appetite for sugar, it ought 
rather to be gratified in moderation. The popular no- 
tion, of its having a tendency to injure the teeth, is to- 
tally unfounded. During the sugar season of the West 
Indies, every negro on the plantations, every animal, and 
even the dogs, grow fat. And no people on earth have 
finer teeth than the negroes of Jamaica. It is probable 
that this erroneous notion has been propagated by fru- 
gal housewives, in order to deter children from indulging 
in an expensive luxury. Sugar is readily digested by a 
healthy stomach. In dyspeptics, it is apt to give rise to 
flatulence and acidity of stomach." 

These remarks, without other considerations, may lead 
to erroneous conclusions. There is no doubt that both 
children and adults are often injured by the use of sugar, 
but it is not because it is unhealthful in its nature, but 



8 ON SELECTING FOOD AND DRINKS 

because it is used in excess or in an improper manner. 
In the "Domestic -Economy," pg. 105, it is shown that 
highly concentrated food is not favorable to digestion, 
because it cannot be properly acted on by the muscular 
contractions of the stomach, and is not so minutely di- 
vided as to enable the gastric juice to act properly. Now 
Sugar, Candy, and the 'like, are highly concentrated 
nourishment, and should not be used except when mixed 
with other food. The reason, then, why children are 
injured by sugar is, that they eat it too frequently, in too 
large quantities, and unmixed with other food. A slick 
or two of pure candy, eaten with crackers or bread, never 
would injure any healthy child. It is too often the case, 
that candies are mixed with unhealthful coloring mat- 
ter, or with nuts and other oily substances, that make 
them injurious. 

The next article of healthful, unstimulating food, is 
jellies and preserved fruits. As it has been shown 
that uncooked fruits and sugar are both healthful, it may 
not seem surprising that jellies and fruits cooked in su- 
gar, when eaten moderately, with bread or crackers, are 
regarded as among the most nourishing and healthful 
of all aliments. When they prove injurious, it is owing 
either to the fact that they are taken alone, or with rich 
cream, or else are taken in too great quantities. Eaten 
moderately, as a part of a meal, they are safe and nour- 
ishing to all, except persons of poor digestion. Healthfu) 
stomachs need not be governed by rules demanded by 
the invalid, which has too often been attempted. 

The preceding presents a vast variety of articles suit- 
able for food, containing in abundance all the principles 
demanded for the perfect development of all the animal 
functions, and which physiologists and medical men uni- 
tedly allow to be healthful. These can be combined by 
the cook in an endless variety of agreeable dishes, in- 
volving no risk to a healthful stomach, when taken in 
proper quantities and in a proper time and manner. 



WITH REFERENCE TO HEALTH. 9 

NOURISHING AND STIMULATING FOOD. 

The second general division of food, embraces articles 
which serve perfectly to nourish and develop every an- 
imal organ, but, at the same time, increase the speed and 
strength of all functional action beyond the point which 
is attained by the system, when fully and perfectly nour- 
ished by vegetables, fruits, and bread-stuffs. There is 
no dispute among physiologists and physicians as to the 
fact, that animal food produces chyle which is more 
stimulating to the various organs, than that which is 
formed from an exclusive vegetable diet. The only 
question debated is, whether this increase of stimulus 
is favorable, or unfavorable to health and long life. 

Those who maintain that it is unfavorable, say, that 
all other things being equal, that machine must wear 
out the soonest which works the fastest; that, it is 
proved, both by analysis and by facts, that a vegeta- 
ble diet contains every principle needed for the perfect 
development of the whole bodily system, as much so as 
animal food ; and that the only difference is the stimula- 
tion in the animal food, which makes the system work 
faster, and of course, wear out sooner. 

To this it is replied, that the exact point of stimula- 
tion, which is most safe and healthful, cannot be deter- 
mined, and that it is as correct to assume, that to be the 
proper medium, which is secured by a mixed diet, as to 
assume that the proper point is that, which is secured by 
an exclusive vegetable diet. Moreover, the fact that the 
teeth and digestive organs of man, which seem to be 
fitted both for vegetable and animal food, and the fact 
that the supplies of food on the earth make it needful 
to adopt sometimes animal, and sometimes vegetable diet, 
and sometimes a mixture of both, furnish an a priori 
argument in favor of a mixed diet. 

In deciding which kinds of animal food are most 
healthful, several particulars are to be regarded. The 
flesh of young animals is more tender than that of the 
old ones, but yet they usually are not so easily digested. 
Beef, and Mutton, and Venison, when tender, are con- 



10 ON SELECTING FOOD AND DRINKS 

sidered the meats which are most easily digested, and 
best for weak stomachs. Venison is more stimulating 
than Beef and Mutton. These meats, when tough, are 
not so easily digested as when tender. 

All meats are made more tender and digestible by 
hanging. 

Solid meats, properly cooked, are more easily digested 
than soups and broths. For it is found that these liquids 
are never digested till the water is absorbed, leaving a 
solid mass more undigestible than was the solid meat. 
When useful to invalids, it is l^ecause they supply the 
loss of the withdrawn fluids of the body, but not because 
more easily digested. The white meats, such as Chicken 
and Veal, are best for invalids, because less stimulating 
than dark meats. 

Liver contains so much oil that it is not good for inva- 
lids or dyspeptics. 

The digestibility and healthfulness of meat depends 
very much upon the mode of cooking. Boiled meats are 
most easily digested, when properly boiled. Roasting, 
broiling, and baking, are healthful modes of cooking, but 
frying is a very pernicious mode of preparing meats, 
the reason of which will be explained hereafter. 

Though there is a disagreement of opinion among 
practitioners and physiologists, as to the propriety of 
using any animal food, they are all agreed in regard to 
certain general principles that should regulate its use. 
They are as follows : — Less animal food should be used 
in warm climates than in cold, and less, also, in summer 
than in winter. The reason of this is, that heat is stim- 
ulating to the system, and as meat diet is also stimula- 
ting, when heat increases, meat, as a diet, should de- 
crease, or fevers may ensue. 

Another principle is, that the proportions of meat diet 
should depend somewhat on the constitution and circum- 
stances. When a person is of full habit, or inclined to 
inflammatory attacks of any kind, the proportion of ani- 
mal food should be much less than in other cases. 

On the contrary, when there is a state of the system 



WITH REFERENCE TO HEALTH. 11 

that demands gentle stimulus, an increase of meat diet 
is sometimes useful. 

Persons subject to cutaneous eruptions are sometimes 
entirely cured by long abstinence from animal food, and 
all kinds of oily substances. 

FOOD THAT STIMULATES WITHOUT NOURISHING. 

The articles which come under this head, are usually 
called the condiments. In regard to these, Dr. Pereira 
remarks, — 

" The relish for flavoring, or seasoning ingredients, 
manifested by almost every person, would lead us to sup- 
pose that these substances serve some useful purpose 
beyond that of merely gratifying the palate. At pres- 
ent, however, we have no evidence that they do. They 
stimulate, but do not seem to nourish. The volatile 
oil they contain is absorbed, and then thrown out of the 
system, still possessing its characteristic odor." 

The articles used for food of this kind, are the siveet 
herbs employed for seasoning, such as Thyme, Summer 
Savory, and the like, and the spices ', such as Cloves, Cin- 
namon, Nutmeg, Pepper, and Ginger. Mustard, Horse- 
radish, Water Cresses, Garlic, and Onions, contain these 
stimulating oils, combined with some nourishing food. 

" Condiments," says Dr. Beaumont, " particularly 
those of a spicy kind, are non-essential to the process of 
digestion in a healthy state of the system. They afford 
no nutrition. Though they may assist the action of a 
debilitate stomach for a time, their continual use never 
fails to produce an indirect debility of that organ. They 
affect it as alcohol and other stimulants do — the present 
relief afforded is at the expense of future suffering. 
Salt and Vinegar are exceptions when used in modera- 
tion. They both assist in digestion, Vinegar by rendering 
muscular fibre more tender, and both together, by pro- 
ducing a fluid having some analogy to the gastric juice. * 

FOOD THAT IS ENTIRELY UN DIGESTIBLE. 

There is no kind of food used which consists exclu- 
sively of indigestible matter. But it often is the case, 



12 ON SELECTING FOOD AND DRINKS 

that a certain amount of indigestible matter is mixed 
with nourishing food, and serves, by its mechanical aid, 
to promote the healthful action of the stomach and 
bowels. This is the reason why unbolted flour is deemed 
more healthful than fine flour, and is consequently pre- 
ferred for dyspeptics. But where there is too great a 
quantity of such indigestible matter, or where it is not 
properly combined with digestible food, it proves inju- 
rious and often dangerous. This is the case when the 
skins and seeds of fruits are swallowed, which always 
pass off entirely undigested, 

FOOD THAT IS UNHEALTHFUL IN NATURE, OR MADE SO BY 
COOKING. 

The most injurious food, of any in common use, is the 
animal, oils, and articles cooked with them. On this 
subject, Dr. Pereira remarks : — " Fixed oil, or fat, is 
more difficult of digestion, and more obnoxious to the 
stomach, than any other alimentary principle. Indeed, 
in concealed forms, I believe it will be found to be the 
offending ingredient in nine-tenths of the dishes which 
disturb weak stomachs. Many dyspeptics who avoid 
fat meat, butter, and oil, unwittingly eat it in some con- 
cealed form. Liver, the yolk of eggs, and brains, such 
individuals should eschew, as they abound in oily mat- 
ter." 

"The influence of heat on fatty substances effects 
chemical changes, whereby they are rendered more dif- 
ficult of digestion, and more obnoxious to the stomach. 
Hence those culinary operations in which fat or oil is 
subjected to high temperatures, are objectionable." 

" Fixed oils give off, while boiling, carbonic acid, an 
inflammable vapor, and an acrid oil, called Acroleon, while 
the fatty acids of the oil are, in part, set free. It has 
always appeared to me that cooked butter proves more 
obnoxious to the stomach than cooked Olive oil. This 
I ascribe to the facility with which, under the influence 
of heat, the acrid, volatile acids of butter are set free. 
The fat of salt pork and bacon is less injurious to some 



WITH REFERENCE TO HEALTH. 13 

dyspeptics than fresh animal fats. This must depend 
on some change effected by curing.* 7 

" In many dyspeptics, fat does not become properly 
chymified. It floats on the stomach in the form of an 
oily pellicle, becoming odorous, and sometimes highly 
rancid, and in this state excites heartburn, disagreeable 
nausea, eructations, and sometimes vomiting. It ap- 
pears to me, that the greater tendency which some oily 
substances have than others to disturb the stomach, de- 
pends on the greater facility with which they evolve 
volatile, fatty acids, which are for the most part exceed- 
ingly acrid and irritating. The distressing feelings ex- 
cited in many dyspeptics by mutton fat, butter, and fish 
oils, are, in this way, readily accounted for. Butter con- 
tains no less than three volatile, fatty acids, namely — 
the butyric, capric, and caproic. Fats, by exposure to 
the air, become rancid, and in this state are exceedingly 
obnoxious to the digestive organs. Their injurious 
qualities depend on the presence of volatile acids, and in 
part also on non-acid substances." 

These statements show the reasons why the fried 
food of all kinds is injurious. Fat is an unhealthful ali- 
ment, and when heated becomes still more so. This 
mode of cooking, then, should be given up by every 
housekeeper, who intends to take all reasonable means 
of preserving the health of her family. There are an 
abundance of other modes of preparing food, without re- 
sorting to one which involves danger, especially to chil- 
dren and invalids, whose powers of digestion are feeble. 

The most common modes of preparing unhealthful 
food, is by frying food, and by furnishing bread that is 
heavy, or sour, or so newly baked, as to become clammy 
and indigestible when chewed. Though there are many 
stomachs that can for a long time take such food with- 
out trouble, it always is injurious to weak stomachs, and 
often renders a healthful stomach a weak one. A 
housekeeper that will always keep a supply of sweet, 
light bread on her table, and avoid oily dishes, oily cook- 
ing, and condiments, w T ili double the chances of good 
health for her family. 

2 



14 ON SELECTING FOOD AND DRINKS 

Minuteness of division is a great aid to easy digestion. 
For this reason food should be well chewed before swal- 
lowing, not only to divide it minutely, but to mix it with 
the saliva, which aids in digestion. 

The cooking of food, in most cases, does not alter its 
nature ; it only renders it more tender, and thus more 
easily divided and digested. 

When a person is feverish and loathes food, it should 
never be given, as the stomach has not sufficient gastric 
juice to secure its digestion. The practice of tempting 
the sick by favorite articles, should therefore be avoided. 

LIQUID ALIMENTS, OR DRINKS. 

" Water" says Dr. Pereira, " is probably the natural 
drink of all adults. It serves several important purposes 
in the animal economy : — firstly, it repairs the loss of the 
aqueous part of the blood, caused by evaporation, and 
the action of the secreting and exhaling organs ; second- 
ly, it is a solvent of various alimentary substances, and, 
therefore, assists the stomach in digestion, though, if 
taken in very large quantities, it may have an opposite 
effect, by diluting the gastric juice ; thirdly, it is a nutri- 
tive agent, that is, it assists in the formation of the solid 
parts of the body." 

The health of communities and of individuals is often 
affected by the nature of the water used for drink, and 
it is therefore important to know how to secure pure and 
good water. 

Rain water is the purest of all water, purer than the 
best spring water. Of course every person who fears 
that the water used is the cause of any evil, can obtain 
that which is known to be pure and good. The cheap- 
est mode of obtaining good rain water, is to have a large 
cistern dug in the vicinity of some large building, with 
conducting spouts. This can be lined with water lime, 
and the water thus obtained, when cooled with ice, is as 
pure as any that can be found. 

A distinguished medical writer, Dr. Cheyne, remark- 
ing on the effects of foreign substances in water, states 
these facts : — 



WITH REFERENCE TO HEALTH. 15 

" At the Nottingham Assizes, July, 1836, it was 
proved on trial, at which I was a witness, that dysen- 
tery, in an aggravated form, was caused in cattle by the 
use of water contaminated with putrescent vegetable 
matter, produced by the refuse of a starch manufactory. 
The fish were destroyed, and all the animals that drank 
of this water became seriously ill, and many died. It 
was shown, also, that the mortality was in proportion to 
the quantity of starch made at different times, and that 
when the putrescent matter (of the manufactory) was 
not allowed to pass to the brook, the fish and frogs re- 
turned, and the mortality ceased among the cattle.*' 

Dr. Barry, an English physician, states, that when 
the troops at Cork were supplied with water from the 
river Lee, which, in passing through the city, is rendered 
unfit for drinking by the influx from sewers, Mr. Bell 
suspected that a dysentery, prevailing at the time, arose 
from this cause. Upon assuming the care of the troops, 
he had a number of water carts to bring water from a 
spring, and did not allow the use of river w^ater, and very 
shortly the dysentery disappeared. 

Sir James McGregor states, that, at one time in the 
Spanish war, when during three months 20,000 dead 
bodies w T ere interred at Ciuclad Rodrigo, all those exposed 
to emanations from the soil, and who were obliged to 
use water from sunken w 7 ells, were affected by low ma- 
lignant fevers, or dysenteries. 

This shows that burying in large towns affects the 
health of the inhabitants, first by emanations from the 
soil, and secondly by poisoning the w r ater percolating 
through that soil. 

Many such facts as these, show the importance of 
keeping wells and cisterns from the drainings of sinks, 
barn-yards, and from decayed dead animals. And it i# 
probable that much sickness in families and communi- 
ties has been caused by neglecting to preserve the water 
pure, that is used for drink and cooking. 

Water is sometimes rendered un healthful by being 
conducted through lead pipes, or kept in lead reservoirs, 
or vessels. It is found that the purer the water, the 



16 ON {SELECTING FOOD AND DRINKS 

more easily it is affected by the lead through which it 
passes. When the water has certain neutral salts in it, 
they are deposited on the surface of the lead, and thus 
protect from its poisonous influence. Immersing a very 
bright piece of lead for some hours in water, will show 
whether it is safe to use lead in conducting the water. 
If the lead is tarnished, it proves that the water exerts a 
solvent power, and that it is unsafe to employ lead in 
carrying the water. 

The continued use of water containing lead, gives 
rise to the lead cholic, or painter's cholic, and if the 
water is still drank, palsy succeeds. One indication of 
this disease is a narrow leaden blue line on the edge of 
the gums of the front teeth. 

The following are methods to be employed in purify- 
ing water : — 

The most thorough and effectual way of obtaining 
perfectly pure water, from that which is noxious, is, to 
distill it, collecting only the steam. 

In cases where water is injured by the presence of 
animal or vegetable matter, boiling sometimes removes 
much of the evil. 

Two grains of powdered alum to every quart of 
water, will often serve to remove many impurities. 

Filtering through fine sand and powdered charcoal, 
removes all animal and vegetable suostances which are 
not held in chemical solution. 

Sea water serves both as a cathartic and emetic, and 
the only mode of obtaining pure water from it is by dis- 
tillation. 

The impure water used often at sea, is owing wholly 
to the casks in which it is carried. When new, the 
water imbibes vegetable ingredients from the cask, which 
become putrid. Water, if carried to sea in iron casks, if 
good and pure, always continues so. Cistern water is 
often impure, when held in new wooden cisterns, owing 
to vegetable matter absorbed by the water. 

Dr. Lee remarks, " We are satisfied that impure 
water is more frequently the cause of disease than is 
generally supposed. It has been thought that decaying 



WITH REFERENCE TO HEALTH. 17 

vegetable matter, received into the stomach, was innox- 
ious, owing to the antiseptic properties of the gastric 
juice. But this opinion is evidently erroneous. An 
immense number of facts could be adduced, to show that 
this is the frequent cause of disease. The British army 
' Medical Reports,' and our own Medical Journals, con- 
tain many facts of a similar kind. The fever which 
carried off so many of the United States Dragoons, on a 
visit to the Pawnees, was occasioned chiefly by drink- 
ing stagnant water, filled with animal and vegetable 
matter. We know that calculus diseases are most 
frequent in countries that abound in lime water/' 

OTHER LIQUID ALIMENTS, OR DRINKS. 

The other drinks in most common use are arranged 
thus, — 

1. The Mucilaginous, Farinaceous, or Saccharine 
drinks. 

These are -water chiefly, with substances slightly nu- 
tritive, softening, and soothing. Toast water. Sugar 
water, Rice water, Barley water, and the various 
Gruels, are of this kind. 

2. The Aromatic and Astringent drinks. 

These include Tea, Coffee, Chicory, Chocolate, and 
Cocoa. 

The following remarks on these drinks are taken 
from the work of Dr. Pereira. 

" The peculiar flavor of tea depends upon the vola- 
tile oil, which has the taste and smell of tea. Alone^ it 
acts as a narcotic, but when combined (as in tea) with 
tannin, it acts as a diuretic and diaphoretic (i. e. to 
promote the flow of urine and perspiration). Its astrin- 
gency, proved by its chemical properties, depends upon 
the presence of tannin. Of this quality we may bene- 
ficially avail ourselves in some cases of poisoning, as by 
poisonous mushrooms, by opium, or laudanum." 

" The peculiar influence of tea, especially the green 
variety, over the nervous system, depends upon the veg- 
etable oil referred to. The influence is analogous to 

2* 



18 ON SELECTING FOOD AND DRINKS 

that of foxglove ; for both green tea and foxglove oc- 
casion watchfulness, and act as sedatives on the heart 
and bloodvessels. Strong green tea produces, on some 
constitutions, usually those popularly known as nervous, 
very severe effects. It gives rise to tremor, anxiety, 
sleeplessness, and most distressing feelings." 

" As a diluent and sedative, tea is well adapted to fe- 
brile and inflammatory disorders. To its sedative influ- 
ence should be ascribed the relief of headache sometimes 
experienced." 

On this subject, Dr. Lee remarks, " Green tea un- 
doubtedly possesses very active medicinal properties ; for 
a very strong decoction of it, or the extract, speedily de- 
stroys life in the inferior animals, even when given in 
very small doses. The strongly marked effects of tea 
upon persons of a highly nervous temperament, in caus- 
ing wakefulness, tremors, palpitations, and other distress- 
ing feelings, prove, also, that it is an agent of considera- 
ble power. It not unfrequently occasions vertigo, and 
sick headache, together with a sinking sensation at the 
pit of the stomach, shortly after eating. It is also op- 
posed to active nutrition, and should, therefore, be used 
with great moderation by those who are thin in flesh. 
From its astringent properties it often is useful in a re- 
laxed state of bowels." 

" We are satisfied that green tea does not, in any 
case, form a salubrious beverage to people in health, and 
should give place to milk, milk and water, black tea, 
milk and sugar, which, when taken tepid, form very 
agreeable and healthy drinks." 

Coffee. " The infusion, or decoction of coffee, forms 
a well known favorite beverage. Like tea, it dimin- 
ishes the disposition to sleep, and hence it is often re- 
sorted to by those who desire nocturnal study. It may 
also be used to counteract the stupor induced by opium, 
alcoholic drinks, and other narcotics. In some constitu- 
tions it acts as a mild laxative, yet it is usually described 
as producing constipation. The immoderate use of 
coffee produces various nervous diseases, such as anx- 



WITH REFERENCE TO HEALTH. 19 

iety, tremor, disordered vision, palpitation, and feverish- 
ness." 

Chicory, or Succory. This is the roasted root of the 
Wild Endive, or Wild Succory. It is prepared like cof- 
fee, and some prefer its flavor to that of coffee. 

Chocolate. This is prepared by roasting the seeds 
of the Cacoa, or Cocoa, then grinding them and forming 
them into cakes. " Chocolate, though devoid of the 
disagreeable qualities of tea and coffee, which disturb 
the nervous functions, yet is difficult of digestion, on 
account of the large quantity of oil which it contains, 
and is, therefore, very apt to disturb the stomach of 
dyspeptics." 

Cocoa. This is made of the nuts and husks of the 
cocoa, roasted and ground, and is somewhat less oily 
than chocolate, and being rather astringent, is adapted 
to looseness of the bowels. The shells alone are often 
used to make a drink, which is less rich than the Cocoa, 
and especially adapted to weak digestive powers. 

The seeds of the vegetable called Ochra, roasted and 
prepared like coffee, are said to equal it in flavor. 

3. Acidulous Drinks. 

" The employment of vegetable acid, as an aliment, 
is necessary to health. It seems pretty clearly estab- 
lished, that complete and prolonged abstinence from 
succulent vegetables, or fruits, or their preserved juices, 
as articles of food, is a cause of scurvy." 

" Water, sharpened with vegetable acids, oftentimes 
proves a most refreshing beverage, allaying thirst, and 
moderating excessive heat. Various acids form cooling, 
refreshing, and antiscorbutic drinks, and are well adapted 
for hot seasons, and for febrile and inflammatory cases. 7 ' 

These drinks are prepared by dissolving vegetable 
acids or acidulous salts in water, sweetening and flavor- 
ing it. Also, by decoctions of acid fruits, which promote 
secretions in the alimentary canal, and act as laxa- 
tives. 

The carbonated or effervescing drinks belong to this 
class. They owe their sparkling briskness to carbonic 
acid gas confined in the liquid. 



20 ON SELECTING FOOD AND DRINKS 

4. Drinks containing Gelatine and Osmazome. 
Gelatine is that part of animal and vegetable matter 

that forms jelly. 

Osmazome is that principle in meats which impart 
their flavor. 

Beef Tea, Mutton, Veal, and Chicken Broths are the 
principal drinks of this description, and usually are pre- 
pared for invalids. 

5. Emulsive, or Milky Drinks. 

Animal milk is the principal drink of this class, and 
as this is the aliment of a large portion of young chil- 
dren, the necessity of guarding against abuses connected 
with the supplies furnished should be generally known. 

A great portion of the milk furnished in New York 
and other large cities, is obtained from cows fed on dis- 
tillery slops , and crowded in filthy pens, without regard 
to ventilation or cleanliness. Thus deprived of pure air 
and exercise, and fed with unhealthy food, their milk 
becomes diseased, and is the cause of extensive mortality 
among young children. Many cows, also, are fed on 
decayed vegetables, and the sour and putrid offals of 
kitchens, and these, also, become thus diseased. 

A work on this subject, by R. M. Hartly, Esq., of New 
York, has been published, which contains these facts. 
Of five hundred dairies near New York and Brooklyn, 
all, except five or six, feed their cows on distillery slops. 
And the reason is, that it yields more milk at a cheaper 
rate than any other food. But it soon destroys the health 
of the animals, and after most of their fluids are, by this 
process, changed to unhealthy milk, and the cows be- 
come diseased, they are sent to a cattle market and a 
new supply obtained. 

The physicians in New York, in a body, have testi- 
fied to the unhealthiness of this practice, but as yet no 
inspectors have been secured to preserve the public from 
this danger, while the great mass of the people are igno- 
rant or negligent on the subject. Chemists have ana- 
lyzed this unhealthful miik, and find that, while pure 
milk is alkaline, slop milk is acid, and also contains less 
than half the nourishment contained in pure miik. 



WITH REFERENCE TO HEALTH. 21 

Scarcely any cream rises on slop milk, and what does 
collect can never be turned into butter ; but, by churn- 
ing-, only changes to froth. We have inspectors of flour, 
meat, fish, and most other food, and every town and 
city supplied by milk carts ought to have inspectors of 
milk ; and where this is not done, every mistress of a 
family should narrowly watch her supplies of milk, and 
ascertain the mode in which the cows are fed. 

In cases where children, or adults, find that milk 
troubles the stomach, it is often owing to its richness. 
and water should then be mixed with it. Infants gen- 
erally require diluted milk, a little sweetened, as cow's 
milk is, when good, considerably richer than mother's 
milk. The fact that oil is placed among the articles 
most difficult to digest, shows the mistake of many, who 
give diluted cream instead of milk, supposing it to be 
better for infants. In all ordinary cases, where an in- 
fant is deprived of the mother's nourishment, the milk 
of a jiew milch cow, diluted with one-third, or one-fourth 
water, and sweetened a little with white sugar, is the 
safest substitute. Sometimes oat-meal gruel, or arrow- 
root, are found to agree better with the child's peculiar 
constitution. 

6. Alcoholic Drinks. 

Beer, Wine, Cider, and Distilled Liquors, are the chief 
of the alcoholic drinks. 

" To persons in health," says Dr. Pereira, in his 
"Elements of Materia Medica," "the dietical employ- 
ment of wine is either useless or pernicious." Dr. Beau- 
mont, in his celebrated experiments on St. Martin,* 
found that wines, as well as distilled spirits, invariably 
interfered with the regularity and completeness of diges- 
tion, and always produced morbid changes in the mu- 
cous membrane of the stomach. And this, too, was the 
case when neither unpleasant feelings nor diminished 
appetite indicated such an effect. 

* This case of St. Martin's referred to, was that of a soldier, who by 
a gun shot, had an opening made into his stomach, which healed up, 
leaving so large an orifice, that all the process of digestion could be ex- 
amined, after he was restored to perfect health. 



22 ON SELECTING FOOD AND DRINKS 






Dr. Bell, of Philadelphia, remarks thus: "The re- 
corded experience of men in all situations and climates, 
under all kinds of labor and exposure, prove that absti- 
nence from alcoholic drinks gives increased ability to go 
through the labors of the farm and the workshop, to re- 
sist heat and cold, to encounter hardships on sea and 
land, beyond what has ever been done under the unnat- 
ural excitement of alcohol, followed, as it is, by depression 
and debility, if not by fever and disease. The observa- 
tion and testimony of naval and military surgeons and 
commanders are adverse to the issue of alcoholic drinks 
to men in the army and navy." 

The reports from all our chief state prisons also prove 
that intemperate men can be instantly deprived of all 
alcoholic drinks, not only without danger, but with an 
immediate improvement of the health. 

Wine is often useful as a medicine, under the direc- 
tion of a physician, but its stimulating, alcoholic princi- 
ple, makes it an improper agent to be drank in health. 
The same is true of cider and strong beer. Some wine, 
beer, and cider drinkers do, by the force of a good con- 
stitution, live to a good old age, and so do some persons, 
also, who live in districts infected by a malaria, which 
destroys the health and life of thousands. But these 
exceptions do not prove that either wine, or malaria are 
favorable to health, or long life. They are only excep- 
tions to a general rule. 

Meantime, the general rule is established by an in- 
credible amount of experience and testimony, that alco- 
holic drinks, in no cases, are needed by those in health, 
and that the indulgence in drinking them awakens a 
gnawing thirst and longing for them, that leads the vast 
majority of those who use them, to disease, debility, pov- 
erty, folly, crime, and death. 



In this detail of the various drinks that may be used 
by man, we find that pure water is always satisfying, 
safe, and sufficient. We find that acid and effervescing 
drinks, so acceptable in hot weather, are also demanded 



WITH REFERENCE TO HEALTH. 23 

by the system, and are safe and healthful. We find 
that milk and broths are also healthful and nourishing. 

Black tea, also, when taken weak and not above 
blood heat, is a perfectly safe and agreeable warm drink 

Chocolate and cocoa are nourishing and safe to per- 
sons who can bear the oil they contain ; and shelL are 
perfectly healthful and safe to all. 

In the vast variety of drinks provided for man, we 
find very few that are not safe and healthful. Green 
tea and coffee, as ordinarily used, are very injuuous to 
very many constitutions. They contain but very little 
nourishment, except what is added by the milk and su- 
gar, and training a family of children to love them (for 
no child loves them till trained to do it) is making it 
probable that all of them will be less healthful and com- 
fortable, and certain that some will be great sufferers. 
Training children to drink tea and coffee is as unreason- 
able and unchristian, as training them to drink foxglove 
and opium would be — the only difference is, that in one 
case it is customary, and the other it is not ; and custom 
makes a practice appear less foolish and sinful. 

There is no need, at this period of the world, to point 
out the wickedness and folly of training children to love 
alcoholic drinks. 

In regard to the use of green tea and coffee, one sug- 
gestion will be offered. These are drinks which contain 
very little nourishment, and their effect is to stimulate 
the nervous system without nourishing it. They are, 
also, usually drank hot. and heat also is a stimulant to 
the nerves of the mouth, teeth, throat, and stomach, in- 
ducing consequent reacting debility. For it is the un- 
varying law of the nervous system, that the reacting 
debility is always in exact proportion to the degree of 
stimulation. 

It is in vain to expect that the great multitudes, who 
have been accustomed, from childhood, to drink hot tea 
and coffee, once, twice, and sometimes thrice a day, will 
give up such a favorite practice. But it is hoped that 
some may be induced to modify their course, by redu- 
cing the strength and the heat of their daily potations. 



24 ON SELECTING FOOD AND MINKS 

It will be found by housekeepers that, if once a month 
the daily quantity of tea, or coffee is slightly reduced, 
the taste will imperceptibly accommodate ; and that, in 
the course of six or eight months, the habits of a family, 
by these slight monthly variations, may be changed so 
as that, eventually, they will love weak tea and coffee as 
much as they once loved the strong. 

Young housekeepers, who are just beginning to rear 
a family of children, will perhaps permit, one plea for the 
young beings, whose fate in life so much depends on 
their physical training. It is the weak and delicate chil- 
dren who are the sufferers, where the habits of a family 
lead them to love stimulating drinks. The strong and 
healthy children may escape unharmed, the whole evil 
falls on those, who are least able to bear it. Oh mother, 
save the weak lambs of your fold ! Save them from 
those untold agonies that result from rasped and debili- 
tated nerves, worn out by unheal thful stimulus ! And 
set before your household the Divine injunction — " We, 
then, that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the 
weak, and not to please ourselves." 

In regard to the selection of food, a housekeeper can 
have small excuse for ever risking the health of her fam- 
ily by providing unhealthy food, or cooking it in an un- 
healthful manner. Innumerable dishes, and enough to 
furnish a new variety for every day of the year, can be 
made of food that is safe and healthful, and cooked in a 
healthful manner. 

Avoid condiments, fats, and food cooked in fats, 
and always provide light and sweet yeast bread, 
is the rule which shuts out almost everything that is 
pernicious to health, and leaves an immense variety from 
which to select what is both healthful and grateful to 
the palate. 

There are some directions in regard to times and man- 
ner of taking food, that are given more at large, with the 
reasons for them, in the " Domestic Economy," but 
which will briefly be referred to, because so important. 

Eating too fast is unhealthful, because the food is not 
properly mastipated, or mixed with the saliva, nor has 



WITH REFERENCE TO HEALTH. 25 

the stomach sufficient time to perform its office on the 
last portion swallowed before another enters. 

Eating too often is unhealthful, because it is weaken- 
ing and injurious to mix fresh food with that which is 
partly digested, and because the stomach needs rest af- 
ter the labor of digesting a meal. In grown persons 
four or five hours should intervene between each meal. 
Children, who are growing fast, need a luncheon of sim- 
ple bread between meals. 

Eating too much is unhealthful, because the stomach 
can properly digest only that amount which is needed 
to nourish the system. The rest is thrown off undi- 
gested, or crowded into parts of the system where it is 
injurious. 

Eating food when too hot is injurious, as weakening the 
nerves of the teeth and stomach by the stimulus of heat. 

Eating highly seasoned food is unhealthful, because 
it stimulates too much, provokes the appetite too much, 
and often is indigestible. 

Badly cooked food is unhealthful, because it is indi- 
gestible, and in other ways injurious. 

Excessive fatigue weakens the power of digestion, 
and in such cases, a meal should be delayed till a little 
rest is gained. 

Bathing should never follow a meal, as it withdraws 
the blood and nervous vigor demanded for digestion, 
from the stomach to the skin. 

Violent exercise should not follow a full meal, as 
that also withdraws the blood and nervous energies from 
the stomach to the muscles. 

Water, and other drinks, should never be taken in 
large quantities, either with, or immediately after a meal, 
as they dilute the gastric juice, and tend to prevent per- 
fect digestion. But it is proper to drink a moderate 
quantity of liquid while eating. 

Where there is a strong constitution and much exer- 
cise in the open air, children and adults may sometimes 
violate these and all other laws of health, and yet remain 
strong and well. 

But all, and especially those, who have delicate con- 

3 



26 



MARKETING CARE AND USES OF MEATS. 



stitutionsj and are deprived of fresh air and exercise, 
will have health and strength increased and prolonged 
by attending to these rules. 



CHAPTER II. 

MARKETING CARE AND USES OF MEATS. 

Beef. 

Fig. 1. 




1. Cheek. 2. Neck. 3. Chuck Rib, or Shoulder having four Ribs. 

4. Front of the Shoulder, or Shoulder Clod, sometimes called Brisket. 

5. Back of the Shoulder. 6. Fore Shin, or Leg. 7, 7. Plate pieces ; the 
front one is the Brisket, and the back one is the Flank, and is divided 
again into the Thick Flank, or Upper Sirloin, and the Lower Flank. 
8. Standing Ribs, divided into First, Second, and Third Cuts. The First 
Cut is next to the Sirloin, and is the best. 9. Sirloin. 10. Sirloin Steak. 
11. Rump, or Etch Bone. 12. Round, or Buttock. 13. Leg, or Hind 
Shank. 

Veal 

Fig. 8. 




1. Head and Pluck. 2. Rack and Neck. 3. Shoulder. 4. Fore 
Shank, or Knuckle. 5. Breast. 6. Loin. 7. Fillet, or Leg. 8. Hind 
Shank, or Knuck^. 



MARKETING CARE AND USES OF MEATS. 

Mutton. 

Fig. 3. 



27 




1. Shoulder. 2, 2. Neck, or Rack. 3. Loin. 4. Leg. 5. Breast 

A Chine is two Loins. 

A Saddle of Mutton is two Legs and two Loins. 




1. Leg. 2. Hind Loin. 3. Fore Loin. 4. Spare Rib. 5. Hand. 
6. Spring. 

A Lamb is divided into two fore quarters and two hind quarters. 

Venison. In this country nothing is used but the hind quarter. Two 
legs and two loins are called a Saddle. 



SELECTION AND USES OF MEATS. 

In selecting beef, the best parts are cut from the thick 
portion, from the shoulder to the rump, and these are 
the most expensive parts, including sirloin, sirloin steaks, 
and first, second, and third cuts of the fore quarter. 
The best steaks are made by sawing up these pieces. 
Steaks from the round or buttock are tougher and not 
so sweet as steaks from rib pieces. The best steaks are 
from the sirloin and sirloin steak. Steaks that have 
large bits of bone should be cheaper, as the bone is so 



28 MARKETING — CARE AND USES OF MEATS* 

much loss. A roasting piece cut close to the fore shoul- 
der is always tough and poor. Tough steaks must be 
pounded with a steak hammer. 

MODES OF COOKING AND USING THE DIFFERENT PARTS OF 
ANIMALS. 

Beef. 

The Sirloin is to be roasted, and it is considered the 
best piece for steaks. The piece next forward of the Sir- 
loin is about as good as any for roasting. 

The Rump is to be corned, or cooked a la mode. 

The Round is used for corning, or a la mode. 

The Edge or Etch Bone is corned, or for soup. 

The Hock or Shin is used for soups. 

The Rib pieces of the fore quarter are used as roast- 
ing pieces. The first cut, which is next the Sirloin, i3 
the best, and the others are better for corning. 

The Head is used for mince pies, and the Tongue 
for smoking. The Legs are used for soups. 

The remaining pieces are used for salting down, stews, 
soups, and mince pies, according to various tastes. 

The Talloio is to be tried up for candles. 

Veal. 

The Loin is used for roasting. 

The Fillet (which is the leg and hind flank) is used 
for cutlets, or to stuff and boil, or to stuff and roast. 

The Chump end of the loin is used for roasting. 

The Knuckles are used for broths. 

The Neck is used for stews, pot pies, and broths, as 
are most of the remaining pieces. 

Many persons roast the fore quarter, which is divided 
into two pieces, called the brisket, or breast, and the rack. 

Mutton. 

The Leg is boiled, or stuffed and roasted. 
The Loin is roasted. 
The rest are for boiling, or corning. 
The Loin is chopped into pieces for broiling, called 
Mutton Chops. 



MARKETING — CARE AND USES OF MEATS. 29 

The Leg is often cut into slices and broiled. 
Many cure and smoke the leg, and call it smoked 
venison. 

Pork. 

The Shoulder and Ham are used for smoking. 

The Spare Rib is used for roasting, and often is used 
as including all the ribs. 

The Shoulder sometimes is corned and boiled. 

That which is to be salted down must have all the 
lean taken out, which is to be used for sausages, or 
broiling. 

The Feet use for jelly, head cheese, and souse. 

MARKETING. 

In selecting Fish, take those that are firm and thick, 
having stiff fins and bright scales, the gills bright red, 
and the eyes full and prominent. When Fish are long 
out of water they grow soft, the fins bend easily, the 
scales are dim, the gills grow dark, and the eyes sink 
and shrink away. Be sure and have them dressed im- 
mediately, sprinkle them with salt, and use them, if pos- 
sible, the same day. In warm weather put them in ice, 
or corning, for the next day. Shell Fish can be decided 
upon only by the smell. Lobsters are not good unless 
alive, or else boiled before offered for sale. They are 
black when alive, and red when boiled. When to be 
boiled, they are to be put alive into boiling water, which 
is the quickest and least cruel way to end life. 

In selecting Beef, take that which has a coarse, loose 
grain, which easily yields to the pressure of finger, 
or knife ; which is a purplish red, and has whitish fat. 
Ox Beef is best. If the lean is purplish and the fat very 
yellow, it is bad Beef. If it is coarse-grained and hard 
to break or cut, it is tough. Stall-fed has lighter fat 
than grass-fed Beef. 

If meat is frozen, lay it in cold water to thaw. A 
piece of ten pounds, or more, will require all night to 
thaw. Beef and Mutton improve by keeping. Meat is 
better for not being frozen, except fresh Pork. 

3* 



30 MARKETING CARE AND USES OF MEATS. 

In selecting Veal, take that which is firm and dry, 
and the joints stiff, having the lean a delicate red, the 
kidney covered with fat, and the fat very white. If you 
buy the head, see that the eyes are plump and lively, 
and not dull and sunk in the head. If you buy the 
legs, get those which are not skinned, as the skin is 
good for jelly, or soup. 

In choosing Mutton, take that which is bright red 
and close grain, with firm and white fat. The meat 
should feel tender and springy on pressure. Notice the 
vein in the neck of the fore quarter, which should be a 
fine blue. 

In selecting Pork, if young, the lean can easily be 
broken when pinched, and the skin can be indented by 
nipping with the fingers. The fat also will be white 
and soft. Thin rind is best. 

In selecting Harris, run a knife along the bone, and 
if it comes out clean, the ham is good, but if it comes 
out smeared, it is spoilt. Good Bacon has white fat and 
the lean adheres closely to the bone. If the Bacon has 
yellow streaks, it is rusty, and not fit to use. 

In selecting Poultry, choose those that are full grown, 
but not old. When young and fresh killed, the skin is 
thin and tender, the joints not very stiff, and the eyes 
full and bright. The breast bone shows the age, as it 
easily yields to pressure if young, and is tough when 
old. If young, you can with a pin easily tear the skin. 
A goose, when old, has red and hairy legs, but when 
young, they are yellow and have few hairs. The pin- 
feathers are the roots of feathers, which break off and 
remain in the skin, and always indicate a young bird. 
When very neatly dressed they are all pulled out. 

Poultry and birds ought to be killed by having the 
neck cut off, and then hung up by the legs to bleed 
freely. This makes the flesh white and more healthfu. 

ON THE CARE OF MEATS. 

Beef and Mutton are improved by keeping as long as 
they remain sweet. If meat begins to taint, wash it 



MARKETING CARE AND USES OF MEATS. 31 

and rub it with powdered charcoal and it removes the 
taint. Sometimes rubbing with salt will cure it. 

Corn-fed Pork is best. Pork made by still-house slops 
is almost poisonous, and hogs that live on offal never 
furnish healthful food. 

Measely Pork has kernels in it, and is unhealthful. 

A thick skin shows that the Pork is old, and that it 
requires more time to boil. 

If your Pork is very salt, soak it some hours. 

Take all the kernels out, that you will find in the 
round, and thick end of the flank of Beef, and in the fat, 
and fill the holes with salt. This will preserve it longer. 

Salt your meat, in summer, as soon as you receive it. 

A pound and a half of salt rubbed into twenty-five 
pounds of Beef, will corn it so as to last several days, in 
ordinary warm weather. , 

Do not let Pork freeze, if you intend to salt it. 

Too much saltpetre spoils Beef. 

In winter, meat is kept finely, if well packed in snow, 
without salting. 

Directions for cutting up a Hog. 

Split the Hog through the spine, take off each half of 
the head behind the ear, then take off a piece front of 
the shoulder and next the head, say four or five pounds, 
for sausages. 

Then take out the leaf which lies around the kid- 
neys, for lard. 

Then, with a knife, cut out the whole mass of the 
lean meat, except what belongs to the shoulder and the 
ham. 

Then take off the ham and the shoulder. Then take 
out all the fat to be used for lard, which is the loose 
piece, directly in front of the ham. 

Next cut off a narrow strip from the spring, or belly, 
for sausage meat. Cut up the remainder, w T hich is clear 
Pork, for salting, in four or five strips of nearly equal 
width. Take off the cheek, or jowl, of the head for 
smoking with the ham ; and use the upper part for boil- 
ing, baking, or head cheese. 



32 MARKETING — CARE AND USES OF MEATS. 

The feet are boiled and then fried, or used for jelly. 
It is most economical to try up the thin flabby pieces for 
lard to cook with. 

The leaf fat try by itself, for the nicest cooking. 

Clean all the intestines of the fat for lard. That 
which does not readily separate from the larger intes- 
tines use for soap grease. 

Of the insides, the liver, heart, sweet-breads, and kid- 
neys, are sometimes used for broiling or frying. The 
smaller intestines are used for sausage cases. 

In salting down, leave out the bloody and lean por- 
tions, and use them for sausages. 

To try out Lard. 

Take what is called the leaves and take off all the 
akin, cut it into pieces an inch square, put it into a clean 
pot over a slow fire, and try it till the scraps look a red- 
dish brown, taking great care not to let it burn, which 
would spoil the whole. Then strain it through a strong 
cloth, into a stone pot, and set it away for use. 

Take the fat to which the smaller intestines are at- 
tached (not the large ones), and the flabby pieces of pork 
not fit for salting, try these in the same way, and set 
the fat thus obtained where it will freeze, and by spring 
the strong taste will be gone, and then it can be used 
for frying. 

Directions for salting down Pork. 

Cover the bottom of the barrel with salt an inch deep. 
Put down one layer of Pork and cover that with salt, 
half an inch thick. Continue thus till the barrel is full. 
Then pour in as much strong pickle as the barrel will 
receive. Always see that the Pork does not rise above 
the brine. When a white scum, or bloody-looking mat- 
ter rises on the top, scald the brine and add more salt. 

Leave out bloody and lean pieces for sausages. 

The Pork ought to be packed as tight as possible, and 
always kept under the brine. Some use a stone for 



MARKETING CARE AND USES OF MEATS. 33 

this purpose. In salting down a new supply, take the 
old brine, boil it down and remove all the scum, and then 
use it to pour over the Pork. 

Mr. H. H?s Receipt for Curing Hams. 

Take an ounce of saltpetre for each ham, and one 
pint of molasses to every pound of saltpetre. 

Then take a quarter of a pound of common salt for 
every pint of molasses used. 

Heat the mixture till it nearly boils, and smear the 
meat side with it, keeping the mixture hot and rubbing 
it in well, especially around the bones and recesses. 

Let the hams lie after this from four to seven days, 
according to the size of the hams. 

Then place them in a salt pickle, strong enough to 
bear an egg^ for three weeks. Then soak eight hours 
in fresh water. 

Then hang in the kitchen, or other more convenient 
place, to dry for a fortnight. Then smoke from three 
to five days, or till well smoked. 

Then wrap them up in strong tar paper, tying it close. 

Then tie them tight in bags of coarse unbleached cot- 
ton, stuffing in shavings, so that no part of the paper 
touches the cotton. Hang them near the roof in a gar- 
ret, and they will never give you any trouble. 

To prepaid Cases for Sausages. 

Empty the cases, taking care not to tear them. Wash 
them thoroughly, and cut into lengths of two yards each. 
Then take a candle rod, and fastening one end of a case 
to the top of it, turn the case inside outward. When 
all are turned, wash very thoroughly and scrape them 
with a scraper made for the purpose, keeping them in 
warm water till ready to scrape. Throw them into salt 
and water to soak till used. It is a very difficult job to 
scrape them clean without tearing them. When fin- 
ished they look transparent and very thin. 



34 MARKETING CARE AND USES OF MEATS. 

Sausage Meat. 

Take one-third fat and two-thirds lean pork and chop 
them, and then to every twelve pounds of meat, add 
twelve large even spoonfuls of pounded salt, nine of 
sifted sage, and six of sifted black pepper. Some like a 
little summer savory. Keep them in a cool and dry 
place. 

Bologna Sausages. 

Take equal portions of veal, pork, and ham, chop 
them fine, season with sweet herbs and pepper, put them 
in cases, boil them till tender, and then dry them. 

Another Receipt for Sausage Meat. 

To twenty-five pounds of chopped meat, which should 
be one-third fat and two- thirds lean, put twenty spoon- 
fuls of sage, twenty-five of salt, ten of pepper, and four of 
summer savory. 

Pickle for Beef Pork, Tongues, or Hung Beef. 

Mix, in four gallons of water, a pound and a half of 
sugar or molasses, and of saltpetre two ounces. If it is 
to last a month or two, put in six pounds of salt ; if you 
wish to keep it over the summer, use nine pounds of salt. 
Boil all together gently, and skim, and then let it cool. 

Put the meat in the vessel in which it is to stand, 
pour the pickle on the meat till it is covered, and keep 
it for family use. 

Once in two months boil and skim the pickle, and 
throw in two ounces of sugar and half a pound of salt. 

When tongues and hung beef are taken out, wash 
and dry the pieces, put them in paper bags and hang in 
a dry, warm place. In very hot weather, rub the meat 
well with salt before it is put in the pickle, and let it lie 
three hours for the bloody portion to run out. Too much 
saltpetre is injurious. 

Another by measure, and with less trouble. 

For every gallon of cold water, use a quart of rock 
salt, a tablespoon heaping full of saltpetre, six heaping ta- 



MARKETING CARE AND USES OF MEATS. 35 

blespoonfuls of brown sugar, and two quarts of blown salt. 
No boiling is needed ; keep it as long as there is salt un- 
dissolved at the bottom. When scum rises scald it, and 
add more sugar, salt, and saltpetre. Keep weights on 
the meat to keep it under. 

In very hot weather fresh meat will often spoil if it is 
put in cold pickle. At such times put the meat into hot 
pickle and boil it for twenty minutes, and the meat will 
keep a month or more. If you save the pickle, add a 
little more salt to it. 

To salt down Beef to keep the year round. 

To one hundred pounds of beef, take four quarts of 
rock salt pounded very fine, four ounces of saltpetre 
made very fine, four pounds of brown sugar, all well 
mixed. 

Scatter some over the bottom of the barrel, lay down 
one layer, and over that scatter the proportion of salt be- 
longing to such a portion of the meat, allowing rather 
the most to the top layers. Pack all down very close, 
and if any scum should rise, sprinkle a pint or more of 
salt over the top. 

To Cleanse Calf's Head and Feet. 

Wash clean, and sprinkle pounded rosin over the hair, 
dip in boiling water and take out immediately, and then 
scrape them clean. Then soak them in water four days, 
changing the water every day. 

To Prepare Rennet. 

Take the stomach of a new-killed calf, and do not 
wash it, as it weakens the gastric juice. Hang it in a 
cool and dry place five days or so, then turn the inside 
out and slip off the curds with the hand. Then fill it 
with salt, with a little saltpetre mixed in, and lay it in a 
stone pot, pouring on a teaspoonful of vinegar, and sprin- 
kling on a handful of salt. Cover it closely and keep 
for use. 



36 BOILED MEATS. 

After six weeks, take a piece four inches square and 
put it in a bottle with five gills of cold water and two 
gills of rose brandy, stop it close, and shake it when you 
use it. A tablespoonful is enough for a quart of milk. 



CHAPTER III. 



BOILED MEATS. 



In boiling meats it is important to keep the water 
constantly boiling, otherwise the meat will soak up the 
water. 

If it is necessary to add more water, be careful that it 
be boiling water. 

Be careful to remove the scum, especially when it 
first begins to boil, and a little salt thrown in aids in 
raising the scum. 

Put the meat into cold water, let it heat very gradu- 
aJly forty minutes or so, and reckon the time of boiling 
from the time it commences boiling. Allow about 
twenty minutes for boiling for each pound of fresh 
meat, and twenty-four for salt meats. 

Do not let the meat remain long, after it is done, as it in- 
jures it. Put a plate in the bottom to prevent the part 
that touches from cooking too much. 

Be sure not to let the fire get hot, so as to make a 
hard boiling, especially at first. The more gently meat 
boils the more tender it is, and the more perfectly the 
savory portion is developed and retained. If the meat 
is fat, skim it and save the fat for other purposes. 

Put salt into the water about in the proportion of a 
great spoonful to a gallon. 

To cook a Ham {very fine). 

Boil a common-sized ham four or five hours, then 
skin the whole and fit it for the table ; then set it in an 
oven for half an hour, then cover it thickly with pound- 



BOILED MEATS. 37 

ed rusk or bread crumbs, and set it back for half an 
hour. 

Boiled ham is always improved by setting it into an 
oven for near an hour, till much of the fat fries out, and 
this also makes it more tender. Save the fat for frying 
meat. 

Smoked Boiled Tongues. 

Soak them in cold water all night, then wash them 
and boil for four or five hours, according to the size. 
When cooked, take off the skin and garnish with parsley. 

A la Mode Beef. 

Take a round of beef, cut it full of holes entirely 
through it, roll strips of raw salt pork in a seasoning 
made of thyme, cloves, and pepper and salt, half a tea- 
spoonful of each ; then draw these strips through the 
holes in the beef. 

Put some small onions, say half a dozen,, with a quar- 
ter of a pound of butter into a sauce-pan with two great 
spoonfuls of milk and stew them till soft, put your beef 
and these onions in a pot, (you can stew the onions in 
the pot instead of the sauce-pan if you prefer it.) pour on 
hot water just enough to cover it, and let it cook slowly 
four or five hours. Just before taking it up, add a pint 
of wine, either Port or Claret. The onions can be cooked 
separately if preferred. 

Another a la Mode Beef. 

If you have about five pounds of beef, take one pound 
of bread, soak it in water, pour off the water and mash 
it fine, adding a bit of butter the size of half a hen's egg, 
salt, mace, pepper, cloves, half a teaspoonful each, 
pounded fine. 

Mix all with a tablespoonful of flour and two eggs. 

Then cut holes through the beef and put in half of 
this seasoning, and put it in a bake-pan with boiling 
water enough to cover it. 

Put the pan lid, heated, over it, and a few coals on it, 

4 



38 BOILED MEATS. 

and let it stew two hours, then take it up and spread the 
other half of the dressing on the top, and add butter the 
size of a hen's egg, heat the pan lid again hot enough 
to brown the dressing, and let it stew again an hour and 
a half. 

When taken up, if the gravy is not thick enough, add 
a teaspoonful of flour wet up in cold water, then add a 
couple of glasses of white wine to the gravy, and a bit 
of butter as large as a walnut. 

To Boil a Leg of Veal or Mutton. 

Make a stuffing of bread, and a quarter as much of 
salt pork, chopped fine and seasoned with sweet herbs, 
pepper and salt. Make deep gashes, or what is better, 
take out the bone with a carving knife, and fill up with 
stuffing, and sew up the opening with strong thread. 
When there is a flap of flesh, lap it over the opening 
and sew it down. 

Put it into a large pot and fill it with water, putting 
in a tablespoonful of salt, and let it simmer slowly three 
hours. If it is needful to add water, pour in boiling 
water. When it is done take it up, and save the broth 
for next day's dinner. 

Pot Pie, of Beef Veal, or Chicken. 

The best way to make the crust is as follows. Peel, 
boil, and mash a dozen potatoes, add a teaspoonful of 
salt, two great spoonfuls of butter, and half a cup of 
milk, or cream. Then stiffen it with flour, till you can 
roll it. Be sure to get all the lumps out of the potatoes. 
Some persons leave out the butter. 

Some roll butter into the dough of bread, others make 
a raised biscuit with but little shortening, others make a 
plain pie crust. But none are so good and healthful as 
the potato crust. 

To prepare the meat, first fry half a dozen slices of 
salt pork, and then cut up the meat and pork, and boil 
them in just water enough to cover them, till the meat 
is nearly cooked. Then peel a dozen potatoes, and slice 



BOILED MEATS. 39 

them thin. Then roll the crust half an inch thick, and 
cut it into oblong pieces. Then put alternate layers of 
crust, potatoes, and meat, till all is used. The meat 
must have salt and pepper sprinkled over each layer. 
The top and bottom layer must be crust. Lastly, pour 
on the liquor in which the meat was boiled, until it just 
covers the whole, and let it simmer till the top crust is 
well cooked, say half or three quarters of an hour. If 
you have occasion to add more liquor, or water, it must 
be boiling hot, or the crust will be spoilt. The excel- 
lence of this pie depends on having light crust, and there- 
fore the meat must first be nearly cooked before putting 
it in the pie, and the crust must be in only just long 
enough to cook, or it will be clammy and hard. When 
nearty done, the crust can be browned, with hot coals 
on a bake-lid. Great care is needed not to burn the 
crust, which should not be put where the fire reached 
the pot on the bottom. 

Calf's Head. 

Take out the brains and boil the head, feet, and lights, 
in salted water, just enough to cover them, about two 
hours. When they have boiled nearly an hour and a 
half, tie the brains in a cloth and put them in to boil 
with the rest. They should previously be soaked half an 
hour in cold water. When the two hours have expired, 
take up the whole, and mash the brains fine, and season 
them with bread crumbs, pepper, salt, and a glass of Port 
or Claret, and use them for sauce. Let the liquor re- 
main for a soup the next day. It serves more handsome- 
ly to remove all the bones. 

Curried Dishes. 

Chickens and veal are most suitable for curries. Boil 
the meat till tender, and separate the joints. Put a lit- 
tle butter in a stew-pan with the chickens, pour on a 
part of the liquor in which the meat was boiled, enough 
nearly to cover it, and let it stew twenty minutes more. 

Prepare the curry thus : for four pounds of meat, take 
a tablespoon ful of curry powder, a tea-cup of boiled rice, 



40 BOILED MEATS. 

a tablespoon ful of flour, and another of melted butter, a 
tea-cup of the liquor, and half a teaspoonful of salt, mix 
them, and pour them over the meat and let it stew ten 
minutes more. 

Rice should be boiled for an accompaniment. 

To Prepare Curry Powder. 

One ounce of ginger, one ounce of mustard, one of 
pepper, three of coriander seed, three of tumeric, half an 
ounce of cardamums, quarter of an ounce of Cayenne pep- 
per, quarter of an ounce of cinnamon, and quarter of an 
ounce of cummin seed. Pound them fine, sift them, 
and cork them tight in a bottle. 

Veal Steio. 

Cut four pounds of veal into pieces three inches long 
and an inch thick, put it into the pot with water enough 
to cover it, and rise an inch over. Add a teaspoonful 
of salt, and put in four or five good slices of salt pork, 
and half a tea-cup of rice, butter the size of a hen's egg, 
and season with pepper, salt, and sweet herbs, and let it 
simmer slowly till the rice is quite soft, allowing half an 
hour to heat and an hour to simmer. If there is too lit- 
tle water, pour in boiling water. 

Adding a little curry turns it into a dish of curried 
veal, of which many are very fond. Be sure and skim 
it well, just before. it begins to simmer. 

Another Veal Stew {very fine). 

Cut four pounds of veal into strips three inches long 
and an inch thick, peel twelve large potatoes and cut 
them into slices an inch thick, then spread a layer of 
veal on the bottom of the pot, and sprinkle a little salt 
and a very little pepper over it, then put a layer of pota- 
toes, then a layer of veal seasoned as before. Use up 
the veal thus, and over the last layer of veal put a layer 
of slices of salt pork, and over the whole a layer of po- 
tatoes. Pour in water till it rises an inch over the whole, 
and cover it as close as possible, heat it fifteen minutes 
and simmer it an hour. 



BOILED MEATS. 41 

Ten minutes before taking up, put in butter the size 
of a hen's egg, stir in a thin batter made of two table- 
spoonfuls of flour. Many add sweet herbs to the salt 
and pepper. 

To Stew Birds. 

Wash and stuff them w r ith bread crumbs, seasoned 
with pepper, salt, butter, or chopped salt pork, and fasten, 
them tight. Line a stew-pan with slices of bacon, add 
a quart of water and a bit of butter the size of a goose 
egg, or else four slices of salt pork. 

Add, if you like, sliced onions and sweet herbs, and 
mace. Stew till tender, then take them up and strain 
the gravy over them. Add boiling water if the liquor 
is too much reduced. 

A fine Mutton Stew. 

Take three quarts of peeled and sliced potatoes, three 
large onions, peeled and sliced, and mutton and ham 
cut into slices. Make layers first of potatoes, salted, and 
then with the mutton, sprinkled with salt, pepper, gravy, 
or butter, and mushroom or tomato catsup, two tea-cups 
of water, and the ham in small quantities. Cover tight 
and stew for an hour and a half. Watch, and add boil- 
ing water if needed, as there must be a good supply of 
gravy at the bottom. 

A Sausage Stew. 

Make a thick layer of slices of peeled potatoes, put on 
a little salt, and then cut up sausages over the potatoes. 
Continue alternate layers of potatoes and sausages, the 
top layer being potatoes, pour in a little water and some 
gravy, or butter, and if you have bits of ham mix them 
with the sausages. 

To Bake Beef. 

Take ten pounds of the buttock, rub it with salt and 
let it lie a day or two, then wash it, and make openings 
in the beef and insert bits of salt pork dipped in a mix- 
ture of powdered pepper, cloves, and fine minced onions, 

4* 



42 BOILED MEATS. 

cover it, and let it bake four or five hours. Put a pint 
of water and teaspoonful of salt in the baking pan and 
baste occasionally. Make a gravy of the drippings. 

Beef, or Mutton and Potato Pie. 

Take a deep dish, butter it, and put in it a layer of 
mashed potatoes, seasoned with butter, pepper, salt and 
minced onions. Take slices of beef, or mutton, and sea- 
son them with pepper and salt, lay them with small bits 
of salt pork over the potatoes. Then fill the dish with 
alternate layers, as above described, having the upper 
one potatoes. Bake an hour, or an hour and a half. 

To Cook Pigeons. 

Pigeons are good stuffed and roasted, or baked. They 
are better stewed thus : — Stuff them like turkeys, put 
them in a pot, breast downwards, and cover them with 
salted water an inch above the top, and simmer them 
two hours if tender, and three if tough. When nearly 
done, stir in a bit of butter the size of a goose egg^ for 
every dozen pigeons. Take them up and add a little 
flour paste to the gravy, with salt and pepper, and pour 
some of it over them, and put the rest in a gravy dish. 

Beef , or Veal Stewed with Apples {very good). 

Rub a stew-pan with butter, cut the meat in thin 
slices, and put in, with pepper, salt, and apple sliced fine ; 
some would add a little onion. Cover it tight, and stew 
till tender. 

To Boil a Turkey. 

Make a stuffing for the craw, of chopped bread and 
butter, cream, oysters, and the yolks of eggs. Sew it in, 
and dredge flour over the turkey, and put it to boil in 
cold water, with a spoonful of salt in it, and enough water 
to cover it well. Let it simmer for two hours and a half, 
or if small, less time. Skim it while boiling. It looks 
nicer if wrapped in a cloth dredged with flour. 

Serve it with drawn butter, in which are put some 
oysters. 



ROASTED AND BAKED MEATS. 43 

To Boil Corned Beef. 

Put the beef in water enough to cover it, and let it 
heat slowly, and boil slowly, and be careful to take off 
the grease. Many think it much improved by boiling 
potatoes, turnips, and cabbage with it. In this case the 
vegetables must be peeled, and all the grease carefully 
skimmed as fast as it rises. Allow about twenty min- 
utes of boiling for each pound of meat. 



CHAPTER IV. 

ROASTED AND BAKED MEATS. 

General Remarks. 



Be sure you have your spit and tin oven very clean 
and bright, and for this end wash them, if possible, be- 
fore they get cold. If they stand, pour boiling water on 
to them. 

Have a fire so large as to extend half a foot beyond 
the roaster each side. 

When meat is thin and tender, have a small, brisk 
fire. When your meat is large, and requires long roast- 
ing, have large solid wood, kindled with charcoal and 
small sticks. Set the meat, at first, some distance from 
the place where it is to roast, so as to have it heat 
through gradually, and then move it up to roast. 

Slow roasting, especially at first, and still more for 
large pieces, is very important. 

Allow about fifteen minutes for each pound of most 
kinds of meat, and if it is cold weather, or the meat 
fresh killed, more time is required, probably twenty min- 
utes for each pound. 

When the meat is nearly done, stir up the fire to 
brown it. The meat should be basted a good deal, es- 
pecially the first part of the time. 



44 ROASTED AND EAKED MEATS. 

Let meat be spitted so as to be equally balanced. 
When the meat is nearly done, the steam from it will 
be drawn toward the fire. 

A pale brown is the proper color for a roast. 

Some dredge on flour and baste, a short time before 
roasted meats are done. 

W henever fresh lard is used instead of butter, in the 
dripping-pan, or to rub on meats, more salt must be used. 

Flour thickening in gravies must be wet up with very 
little water till the lumps are out, and then made thin. 
Never dredge flour into gravies, as it makes lumps. 
Strain all gravies. 

Roast Beef, 

The sirloin, and the first and second cuts of the rack, 
are the best roasting pieces. 

Rub it with salt ; set the bony side to the fire to heat 
awhile, then turn it, and have a strong fire ; and if thick, 
allow fifteen minutes to the pound ; if thin, allow a little less. 
If fresh killed, or if it is very cold, allow a little more 
time. Half an hour before it is done, pour off the gravy, 
thicken it with brown flour, and season it with salt and 
pepper. It is the fashion to serve roast beef with no 
other gravy than the juice of the meat. 

Roast Lamb. 

The fore and hind quarter of lamb are used for roast- 
ing. Rub on a little softened butter, and then some 
salt and pepper, heat the bony side first, then turn 
and roast by a brisk fire, allowing about fifteen min- 
utes to a pound, and rather more if fresh killed, or the 
weather cold. Put a pint of water and a teaspoonful of 
salt in the dripping-pan, and a little lard, or butter. 
Lamb is to be cooked thoroughly. 

The following is a very excellent sauce for roast lamb. 
Pick, wash, and shred fine, some fresh mint, put on it a 
tablespoonful of sugar, and four tablespoonfuls of vinegar ; 
or, chop some hard pickles to the size of capers, and put 
them to half a pint of melted butter, and a teaspoonful 
of vinegar. 



ROASTED AND BAKED MEATS. 45 

Roast Mutton. 

The saddle, shoulder, and leg are used for roasting. 

Rub the mutton with butter, and then with salt and 
pepper, and some add pounded allspice, or cloves. Put 
butter, or lard, in the dripping-pan, with a quart of 
water, or a pint for a small piece, and baste it often. 
Set the bony side toward the fire, at some distance, that 
it may heat through before roasting. Allow about a 
quarter of an hour for every pound. Mutton should be 
cooked rare. 

Make a brown gravy, and serve it with currant jelly. 

Roast Veal. 

The loin is the best for roasting, the breast and rack 
the next best. Wash the piece to be roasted in cold 
- water, rub a little butter softened over it, and then some 
pepper and salt, put a pint or more water in the dripping- 
pan, and unless there is a good deal of fat, a bit of lard, 
or butter, and baste often. Set the bony side first to the 
fire to heat. Allow twenty minutes for every pound, 
and if cold, or fresh killed, a little more. Yeal should 
be cooked very thoroughly. In roasting any part except 
the loin, cut slits in the veal and draw through the bits 
of salt pork, which, while roasting, impart a flavor to 
the veal. 

To Roast a Fillet or Leg of Veal. 

Cut off the shank bone of a leg of veal, and cut gashes 
in what remains. Make a dressing of chopped raw salt 
pork, salt, pepper, sweet herbs and bread crumbs, or use 
butter instead of pork. Stuff the openings in the meat 
with the dressing, put it in a bake-pan with water, just 
enough to cover it, and let it bake, say two hours for 
six pounds. Or put it in a tin oven, and roast it two or 
three hours, according to the size. 

Baked, or Roasted Pig. 

Take a pig that weighs from seven to twelve pounds, 
and as much as five weeks old. Wash it thoroughly 



46 ROASTED AND BAKED MEATS. 

outside and inside. Take any fresh cold meat, say one 
pound, and a quarter of a pound of salt pork, and twice 
as much bread as you have meat. 

Chop the bread by itself, and chop the meat and pork 
fine and mix all together, adding sweet herbs, pepper and 
salt, half a tea-cup of butter, and one egg. Stuff the pig 
wdth it, and sew it up tight. Take off the legs at the 
middle joint. Put it into a dripping-pan with cross-bars 
or a grate to hold it up, and with the legs tied, and pour 
into the pan a pint of water and set it in the oven. As 
soon as it begins to cook, swab it with salt and water, 
and then in fifteen minutes do it again. If it blisters it 
is cooking too fast ; swab it, and diminish the heat. It 
must bake, if weighing twelve pounds, three hours. 
When nearly done, rub it with butter. When taken 
out set it for three minutes in the cold, to make it crisp. 

To Roast a Spare Rib. 

Rub with salt, pepper, and powdered sage. Put the 
bone side to warm slowly. Dredge on a little flour, and 
put a little salted water and butter into the dripping- 
pan, and baste with it. If large, it requires three hours ; 
if small, only one to cook it. Pork must be cooked slow- 
ly and very thoroughly. 

Roast Turkey. 

Wash the outside and inside very clean. Take bread 
crumbs, grated or chopped, about enough to fill the tur- 
key, chop a bit of salt pork, the size of a good egg, 
and mix it in, with butter, the size of an egg, pepper, 
salt, and sweet herbs to your taste. Then beat up an 
egg and work in. Fill the crop and the body, sew 
them upland tie the legs and wings, and spit them. 
Set it where it will gradually heat, and turn it once or 
twice, while heating, for fifteen minutes. Then put it 
up to the fire, and allow about twenty-five minutes for 
each pound. Turkey must be cooked very thorough- 
ly. It must roast slowly at first, and be often basted 
with butter on a fork. Dredge it with flour just be- 
fore taking it up, and let it brown. 






ROASTED AND BAKED MEATS. 47 

Put the inwards in a skillet to boil for two hours, chop 
them up, season them, use the liquor they are boiled in 
for gravy, and thicken it with brown flour, and a bit of 
butter, the size of a hen's egg. This is the giblet sauce. 
Take the drippings, say half a pint, thickened with a 
paste, made of a tablespoonful of brown, or white flour, 
and let it simmer five minutes, and then use it for thin 
gravy. 

Roast Goose. 

A goose should be roasted in the same manner as a 
turkey. It is better to make the stuffing of mashed po- 
tatoes, seasoned with salt, pepper, sage, and onions, to the 
taste. Apple sauce is good to serve with it. Allow fif- 
teen minutes to a pound, for a goslin, and twenty or 
more for an older one. Goose should be cooked rare. 

Roast Chickens. 

Wash them clean outside and inside, stuff them as 
directed for turkeys, baste them with butter, lard, or 
drippings, and roast them about an hour. Chickens 
should be cooked thoroughly. Stew the inwards till ten- 
der, and till there is but little water, chop them and 
mix in gravy from the dripping-pan, thicken with brown 
flour, and season with salt, pepper, and butter. Cran- 
berry, or new-made apple sauce, is good w T ith them. 

Roast Ducks. 

Wash the ducks, and stuff them with a dressing made 
with mashed potatoes, wet with milk, and chopped 
onions, sage, pepper, salt, and a little butter, to suit your 
taste. Reserve the inwards to make the gravy, as is 
directed for turkeys, except it should be seasoned with 
sage and chopped onions. They will cook in about an 
hour. Ducks are to be cooked rare. Baste them with 
salt water, and before taking up, dredge on a little flour 
and let it brown. 

Green peas and stewed cranberries are good accompa- 
niments. 

Canvass-back ducks are cooked without stuffing. 



48 ROASTED AND BAKED MEATS. 

Wild ducks must be soaked in salt and water the night 
previous, to remove the fishy taste, and then in the morn- 
ing- put in fresh water, which should be changed once 
or twice. 

Mutton and Beef Pie. 

Line a dish with a crust made of potatoes, as directed 
in the Chicken Pot Pie. Broil the meat ten minutes, 
after pounding it till the fibres are broken. Cut the 
meat thin, and put it in layers, with thin slices of broil- 
ed salt pork, season with butter, the size of a hen ? s egg, 
salt, pepper, (and either wine or catsup, if liked) ; put in 
water till it nearly covers the meat, and dredge in con- 
siderable flour, cover it with the paste, and bake it an 
hour and a half if quite thick. Cold meats are good 
cooked over in this way. Cut a slit in the centre of the 
cover. 

Chicken Pie. 

Joint and boil two chickens in salted water, just enough 
to cover them, and simmer slowly for half an hour. Line 
a dish with raised or potato crust, or pie crust, then put 
the chicken in layers, with thin slices of broiled pork, 
butter, the size of a goose egg, cut in small pieces. 
Put in enough of liquor, in which the meat was boil- 
ed, to reach the surface, salt and pepper each layer, 
dredge in a little flour, and cover all with a light, thick 
crust. Ornament the top w T ith the crust, and bake 
about one hour in a hot oven. Make a small slit in the 
centre of the crust. If it begins to scorch, lay a paper 
over a short time. 

Mutton Haricot. 

Make a rich gravy by boiling the coarser parts for the 
liquor, and seasoning with pepper, spice, and catsup. 
Cut into the gravy, carrots, parsnips, onions, and celery, 
boiled tender ; then broil the mutton, first seasoning it 
with salt and pepper, put them into the gravy, and stew 
all about ten minutes. Garnish with small pickles. 



roasted- and baked meats. 49 

To Cook a Shoulder of Lamb. 

Check the shoulder with cuts an inch deep, rub on 
first butter, then salt, p >pper, and sweet herbs, over these 
put the yolk of an egg and bread crumbs, and then bake 
or roast it a light brown. Make a gravy of the drip- 
pings, seasoning with pepper, salt, and tomato catsup, 
and also the grated rind and juice of a lemon ; thicken 
with a very little -flour. 

Rice Chicken Pie. 

Line a pudding dish with slices of broiled ham, cut up a 
boiled chicken, and nearly fill the dish, filling in with 
gravy or melted butter ; add minced onions if you like, 
or a little curry powder, which is better. Then pile 
boiled rice to fill all interstices, and cover the top quite 
thick. Bake it for half or three quarters of an hour. 

Potato Pie. 

Take mashed potatoes, seasoned with salt, butter, and 
milk, and line a baking dish. Lay upon it slices of 
cold meats of any kind with salt, pepper, catsup, and 
butter, or gravy. Put on another layer of potatoes, and 
then another of cold meat as before. Lastly, on the top 
put. a cover of potatoes. 

Bake it till it is thoroughly warmed through, and 
serve it in the dish in which it is baked, setting it in, or 
upon another. 

5 



50 FRIED AND BROILED MEATS. 



CHAPTER V. 

FRIED AND BROILED MEATS. 

General Remarks. 

It is best to fry in lard not salted, and this is better 
than butter. Mutton and beef suet are good for frying*. 
When the lard seems hot, try it by throwing in a bit of 
bread. When taking up fried articles, drain off the fat 
on a wire sieve. 

A nice Way of Cooking Calf's or Pig's Liver. 

Cut it in slices half an inch thick, pour on boiling wa- 
ter and then pour it off entirety, then let the liver brown 
in its own juices, turning it till it looks brown on both 
sides. Take it up and pour into the frying-pan enough 
cold water to make as much gravy as you wish ; then 
sliver in onion, cut fine, add a little salt and nutmeg, and 
a bit of butter to season it, let it boil up once, then put 
back the liver for a minute, and then set it on the table. 

Fried Veal Cutlets. 

Take half a pint of milk, add a well-beaten egg, and 
flour enough to make a batter. Fry the veal brown in 
some sweet laid, then dip it in the batter and fry again 
till brown. Drop in some spoonfuls of batter, to fry after 
the veal is taken up, and put them on the top of the veal. 
Then put a little thin flour paste into the gravy, adding salt 
and pepper, and after one boil, pour it over the whole. 
The veal must be cut quite thin, and it should cook 
nearly an hour in the wdiole. 

Fricassee Chickens. 

Wash the chickens and divide them into pieces, put 
them in a pot, or stew-pan, with several slices of salt 



FRIED AND BROILED MEATS. 51 

ham, or pork, and sprinkle each layer with salt and pep- 
per ; cover them with water, and let them simmer till 
tender, keeping them covered. Then take them up, 
and mix with the gravy a piece of butter the size of a 
hen's egg, and a paste made of two teaspoonfuls of flour 
w^et up with the gravy. Put back the chickens and let 
them stew five minutes. Then spread crackers, or toasted 
bread, on the platter, put the chickens on it, and pour the 
gravy over. 

In case it is wished to have them browned, take them out 
when nearly cooked and fry them in butter till brown, 
or pour off all the liquid and fry them in the pot. 

Meats Warmed over. 

Cold beef is best made into pies as in a foregoing re- 
ceipt. Veal is best made into hashes, or force meat, as in 
following receipts. If it is liked more simply cooked, chop 
it fine, put in water just enough to moisten it, butter, salt, 
pepper, and a little juice of a lemon. Some like a little 
lemon rind grated in. Heat it through, but do not let it 
fry. Put it on buttered toast, and garnish it with slices 
of lemon. 

Cold salted, or fresh beef are good chopped fine with pep- 
per, salt, and catsup, and water enough to moisten a little. 
Add some butter just before taking it up, and do not let it 
fry, only heat it hot. It injures cooked meat to cook it 
again. Cold fowls make a nice dish to have them cut 
up in mouthfuls, add some of the gravy and giblet sauce, 
a little butter and pepper, and then heat them through. 

A nice Way of Cooking Cold Meats. 

Chop the meat fine, add salt, pepper, a little onion, or 
else tomato catsup, fill a tin bread pan one-third full, cov- 
er it over with boiled potatoes salted and mashed with 
cream or milk, lay bits of butter on the top and set it 
into a Dutch, or stove oven, for fifteen or twenty minutes. 

A Hash of Cold Meat for Dinner {very good). 
Peel six large tomatoes and one onion, and slice them. 



, r >\J FBIED and BROILED MEATS. 

Add a spoonful of sugar, salt and pepper, and a bit of 
butter the size of a ben's egff, and half a pint of cold 
watep< Shave up the meat into small bits, as thin as 
thick pasteboard. Dredge Hour over it, Bay two tea- 
Bpoonfuls, or a little less. Simmer the meat with all 
the rest for one hour ) and then serve it, aqd it is very fine. 

Dried tomatoes e;m l>e used. When you have no to- 

matoes, make a gravy wit E i water, pepper, sah, and but- 
ter, or cold gravy : slice an onion in it, add tomato cat* 
sup (two or three spoonfuls), and then prepare the meat 
as above, and simmer it in this gravy one hour. 



( 'old Meat Turnox 



\r.v. 



Roll out wheat dough very thin, and put in it, like a 
turnover^ cold meal chopped fine, and seasoned with pep- 
per, salt, catsup, and sweet herbs. Make small ones, and 
fry them in lard till the dough is well cooked. 

Head Cheese, 

l>oil in salted water the ears, skin, and feet of pigs till 
the meat drops from the bones; chop it like sausage meat 
Season the liquor with pepper, salt, cloves, nutmeg, and 

cinnamon, or with pepper, salt, and sweet, herbs, mix the 
meal with it, and while hot tie it in a strong bag and 
keej> a heavy stone upon it until quite cold. 

Souse. 

Cleanse pigs' ears and feel and soak them a week in 
salt and water, changing the water every other day. 
Boil eight or ten hours till tender. When cold put on 
salt, and pour on hot Bpioed vinegar. Pry them in lard. 

/ ripe. 

Scrape and scour it thoroughly, soak it in salt and wa- 
ter a week, changing it. every other day. Boil it. eight 
or ten hours, till tender; then pour on spiced hot vinegar, 
or fry or broil it. 

Fbrce Meat Balls (another flash.) 
Chop cold veal fine with one- fourth as much salt 



FRIED AM) IJKOJIJCn MKATS. 

pork. Season with salt, pepper, and sweet herbs. Make 
them into balls and Try them brown. 

To Prepare Cold Heef >Sleaks. 

Put a fine minced onion into a stew-pan, and add half 
a dozen cloves and as many pepper coins, pour on a cof- 
fee Clip of boiling water, and add throe lar^o spoonfuls of 

buffer, or some gravy. I <et it simmer ten minutes. Then 
cut u|> the beef in mouthfuls and put into this gravy to 
simmer four or five minutes, fill heated through, but do 
not let it cook any more, as it is not healthful. 

Three large tomatoes stewed with the onion improves 
this. 

A 'nice Way of Cooking (laid lloiled Hani. 

Make quite a thin batter of flour, water, and eggs, with 
a little salt. Pour the batter over the bottom of a Dutch 
oven, or frying-pan, which hasa verylittle hot butter, or 
lard iii it; say three great spoonfuls. Let the batter ho 
no thicker on the bottom tnan .'» straw; let if. fry a cou- 
ple of minutes and then cover the batter with vejry thin 
slices of ham, and pour a thin cover of hatter over them. 

Let it fry till the bottom looks a yellowish brown (have 
a hot fire), then cut it into squares, or into triangular 
quarters, or eighths, and turn it with a knife, and let it 
fry till the other side is brown* d. 

Another Way of Cooking ('old I lam. 

Cut up all the bits and ends, put them in a frying, or 
sauce pan, with a very little water and some butter. 
When warmed through, break in some c_"j;s and stir 

them up with the ham until the e,'j,ii; is hardened. 
A Veal Hash. 
Cut up cooked veal into Strips, Hour them and [ry them 

to a light hiown, in butter. Then take them up and 
mix as much hot water as there is gfavy, add a little flour 

paste, season with salt, pepper, catsup, and lemon-juice, 
then add the meat and heat it hot. 



54 FRIED AND BROILED MEATS,* 

Veal Balls {another Hash). 

Chop the cold veal fine, removing hard portions, add 
as much bread crumbs as there is of meat, and half as much 
broiled salt pork chopped fine. Moisten all with a glass 
of white wine if you like it, put in two eggs, and season 
with salt, pepper, sweet herbs, and a little nutmeg. Form 
them into balls and fry in butter. 

■ 

BROILED MEATS. 

General Remarks. 

It is best to oil the bars of the gridiron with suet and 
also warm them before putting the meat on. Chalk is 
sometimes rubbed on to the gridiron, when fish is to be 
broiled. It is desirable to keep a gridiron expressly for 
fish, otherwise meat is often made to taste fishy. 

Broiled Ham. 

Cut the ham into thin slices, and broil it very quickly 
over a hot fire, then put on butter and a little pepper. 

Broiled Veal Cutlets. 

Cut the veal into slices a quarter of an inch thick, lay 
them on the gridiron with an equal number of slices of salt 
pork beside them. When cooked, put the veal on to the 
dish, butter, salt, and pepper it well, and lay the salt pork 
on the top of it. Veal needs to broil a good while, till it 
looks done when cut open. 

Broiled Miction Chops. 

These must be broiled over a quick fire and not cook- 
ed so much as veal. 

Broiled Pork Steaks. 

These must be cut rather thin, broiled quick, and 
very thoroughly. 

Beef Steaks. 

Those from the sirloin are best, those from the shoul- 



FRIED AND BROILED MEATS. 55 

der clod and round are not so good, but cheaper. Meat, if 
tough, is made more tender by pounding, if it is done 
very thoroughly, so as to break the fibres. Cut the 
steaks from half an inch to an inch thick. Broil on hot 
coals, and the quicker it is done the better. Ten or 
twelve minutes is enough time. Turn it four or five 
times, and when done put on butter, salt, and if you like 
pepper, and on both sides. Do not let your butter be 
turned to oil before putting it on. It is best to have beef 
tongs to turn beef, as pricking it lets out the juices. 
Often turning prevents the surface from hardening and 
cooks it more equally. 

Beef Liver. 

Cut it in slices half an inch thick, pour boiling water on 
it, broil it with some thin slices of salt pork dipped in 
flour ; then cut the liver and pork up into mouthfuls, 
put them in a frying-pan with a little butter, pepper, and 
salt, and stew them three or four minutes. 

To Poach Eggs. 

Beat the eggs to a froth, pour them into a buttered 
tin, set it on coals, add salt and butter, stir till cooked, 
and then put it on to buttered toast. 

To Boil Eggs. 

Put them into boiling water and allow three minutes 
if you wish only the white hardened, and five minutes 
if you wish them hard. Another and more delicate way 
is to break them into boiling water and let them boil 
three or four minutes. Then take them up with a 
skimmer, draining them well, and lay them on buttered 
toast, and spread a little butter on them. 

Another, and the best way to boil them when in the 
shell, is to pour on boiling water and let them stand five 
minutes. Then pour it off and pour on more boiling 
water, and let them stand five minutes longer. 

This is the way in which they are cooked in egg boil- 
ers, which are set upon the table. 



56 FRIED AND BROILED MEATS. 

A Salt Relish. 

Cut salt pork into thin slices, fry them till crisp, take 
them out and pour a little water to the fat, dredge in a 
little flour, and put in a little pepper. Then cut up the 
pork in mouthfuls and put to this gravy. 

Egg Frizzle (very good). 

Pour boiling water on to salt, smoked beef slivered. 
Pour off the water and then frizzle it in the frying-pan 
with butter. When done, break in two or three eggs, 
and stir it till the eg-o- is hardened. 



"OS 



Frizzled Beef. 

Sliver smoked beef, pour on boiling water to freshen 
it, then pour off the water and frizzle the beef in butter. 

Veal Cheese. 

Prepare equal quantities of sliced boiled veal and 
smoked tongue, boiled, skinned, and sliced. 

Pound each separately in a mortar, moistening with 
butter as you proceed. 

Then take a stone jar, or tin can, and mix them in it, 
so that it will, when cut, look mottled and variegated. 
Press it hard and pour on melted butter. Keep it cover- 
ed in a dry place. To be used at tea in slices. 

A Codfish Relish. 

Take thin slivers of codfish, lay them on hot coals, 
and when a yellowish brown, set them on the table. 

Another Way. 

Sliver the codfish fine, pour on boiling water, drain it 
off, and add butter, and a very little pepper, and heat 
them three or four minutes, but do not let them fry. 

Salt Herrings. 

Heat them on a gridiron, remove the skin, and then 
set them on the table. 



soups. 57 



CHAPTER VI. 

SOUPS. 

The delicate and proper blending of savors is the 
chief art of good soup -in a king. 

Be sure and skim the grease off the soup when it first 
boils, or it will not become clear. Throw in a little salt 
to bring up the scum. Remove all the grease. 

Be sure and simmer softly ', and never let a soup boil 
hard. 

Put the meat into cold water, and let it grow warm 
slowly. This dissolves the gelatine, allows the albumen 
to disengage, and the scum to rise, and diffuses the sa- 
vory part of the meat. But if the soup is over a hot fire 
the albumen coagulates and hardens the meat, prevents 
the water from penetrating, and the savory part from 
disengaging itself. Thus the broth will be without fla- 
vor, and the meat tough. Allow about two tablespoon- 
fuls of salt to four quarts of soup, where there are many 
vegetables, and one and a half where there are few. 

Be sure not to leave any fat floating on the surface. 

A quart of water, or a little less, to a pound of meat 
is a good rule. 

Soup made of uncooked meat is as good the second 
day, if heated to the boiling point. 

If more water is needed, use boiling hot water, as cold 
or lukewarm spoils the soup. • 

It is thought that potato water is unhealthy ; and 
therefore do not boil potatoes in soup, but boil elsewhere, 
and add them when nearly cooked. 

The water in which poultry, or fresh meat is boiled 
should be saved for gravies, or soup, the next day. If 
you do not need it, give it to the poor. 

Keep the vessel covered tight in which you boil soup, 
that the flavor be not lost. 



58 sours. 

Never leave soup in metal pots, as sometimes a fam- 
ily is thus poisoned. 

Thickened soups require more seasoning ; nearly dou- 
ble the quantity used for thin soups. 

French Vegetable Soup. 

Take a leg of lamb, of moderate size, and four quarts 
water. Of potatoes, carrots, cabbage, onions, tomatoes, 
and turnips take a tea-cup full of each, chopped fine. 
Salt and black pepper to your taste. 

Wash the lamb, and put it into the four quarts of cold 
water. When the scum rises take it off carefully with 
a skimmer. After having pared and chopped the vege- 
tables, put them into the soup. Carrots require the most 
boiling, and should be put in first ; onions require the 
least boiling, and are to be put in the last. 

This soup requires about three hours to boil. 

Plain Calfs Head Soup. 

Boil the head and feet in just water enough to cover 
them ; when tender take out the bones, cut in small 
pieces, and season with marjoram, thyme, cloves, salt, 
and pepper. 

Put all into a pot, with the liquor, and four spoonfuls 
of thin batter, stew gently an hour, then, just as you take it 
up, add two or three glasses of Port wine, and the yolks 
of eggs boiled hard. 

An Excellent Simple Mutton Soup. 

Put a piece of the fore quarter of mutton into salted 
water, enough to more than cover it, and simmer it slow- 
ly two hours. Then peel a dozen turnips, and six to- 
matoes, and quarter them, and boil them with the mut- 
ton till just tender enough to eat. Thicken the soup 
with pearl barley. Some add sliced tomatoes, or the 
juice and rind of a lemon. Use half a tea-cup of rice if 
you have no pearl barley. 

Pea Soup. 

Soak dry peas over night, putting a quart of water to 
each quart of peas. Next morning boil them an hour 



soups. 59 

in this water, and ten minutes before the hour expires 
put in a teaspoonful of saleratus. Change them to fresh 
water, put in a pound of salt pork, and boil three or four 
hours, till the peas are soft. Green peas need no soak- 
ing, and must boil not more than an hour. When ta- 
ken up, add butter. 

Portable Soup. 

Boil down the meat to a thick jelly, season it highly 
with salt, spices, and wine, or brandy ; when cold, cut it 
in square inches, and dry them in the sun. Keep them 
in a tight tin vessel, and when you use them put a quart 
of boiling water to one, or two of the cakes, which should 
be one inch square, and the fourth of an inch thick. 
Vegetables can be added. 

A Rich Mock Turtle Soup. 

Divide the lower from the upper part of the head, and 
put the head in a gallon of water, and boil till tender. 

Strain the liquor, and let it stand till the next day, 
and then take off the fat. Three quarters of an hour 
before serving it, hang it over the fire and season it with 
pepper, salt, mace, cloves, and sweet herbs, tied up in a 
small bag ; add half a pint of rich gravy. Darken it 
with fried sugar, or browned flour ; add the juice of two 
lemons, the yolks of eight eggs, boiled hard, and force 
meat balls. Just before taking up, pour in half a pint 
of wine. 

Another Dry Pea Soup. 

Soak the peas over night. Put a pound and a half 
of split peas into four quarts of water, with roast beef, or 
mutton bones, and a ham bone, or slices of ham. Add 
two heads of celery and two onions, and stew slowly till 
the peas are soft. Then strain the peas through a coarse 
sieve, and put them back and season to your taste with 
pepper and salt. Let it boil one hour longer. When 
you have no celery use a teaspoonful of essence of celery, 
or a spoonful of celery vinegar. 



60 soups. 

Clam Soup. 

Wash a peck of clams and boil them in a pint of water, 
till those on the top open and they come out easily. Strain 
the liquor, and add a quart of milk. When it just boils 
thicken with two and a half spoonfuls of flour, worked 
into three of butter, with pepper, mace, and other spices 
to your taste. It is better without spice. 

Oyster Soup. 

Put a gallon of water to a knuckle of veal, boil it to 
two quarts, strain and add the juice of the oysters you 
are to use. Add pepper and salt to your taste. Fifteen 
minutes before taking it up, put in the oysters. Ten 
minutes before taking up, put in eight rolled crackers, 
and after it stops boiling, add half a pint of milk. 

Veal Soup. 

Take the knuckle and put it into salted water, enough 
to cover it, and also put in a pound of ham. When it 
is boiled very tender take up the meat, and strain the 
soup, and add a head of celery, cut small, one onion, a 
turnip and carrot sliced, four sliced tomatoes, a dozen 
corns of pepper, and salt to your taste. Thicken with 
three great spoonfuls of rice, or vermicelli, or a thin flour 
paste. Simmer it gently till all the vegetables are done. 

Almost any kind of meat can be made into soup, by 
taking the broth, and adding various kinds of seasoning 
and thickening ; such as tomatoes, ochra, vermicelli, 
sweet herbs, and vegetables, and in such proportions as 
each one likes best. The preceding kinds of soup will 
be a guide as to proportions. 

Macaroni Soup (Mrs. F.'s Receipt). » 

Take six pounds of beef, and put it into four quarts of 
water, with two onions, one carrot, one turnip, and a 
head of celery. Boil it down three or four hours slowly, 
till there is about two quarts of water, and let it cool. 
Next day take off the grease, without shaking the sedi- 
ment, and pour it off into the kettle, half an hour before 
dinner (leaving the sediment out), and add salt to suit 



SOUPS. 



the taste, a pint of macaroni, broken into inch pieces, 
and a tablespoonful and a half of tomato catsup. 

Southern Gumbo {Mrs. Lis Receipt). 

This is a favorite dish at the South and West, and is 
made in a variety of ways. The following is a very fine 
receipt, furnished by a lady, who has had an extensive 
opportunity for selection. 

Fry one chicken, when cut up, to a light brown, and 
also two slices of bacon. Pour on to them three quarts 
of boiling water. Add one onion and some sweet herbs, 
tied in a rag. Simmer them gently three hours and a 
half. Strain off the liquor, take off the fat, and then put 
the ham and chicken, cut into small pieces, into the li- 
quor. Add half a tea-cup of ochre, cut up; if dry, the 
same quantity ; also half a tea-cup of rice. Boil all half 
an hour, and just before serving add a glass of wine and 
a dozen oysters, with their juice. Ochre is a fine vege- 
table, especially for soups, and is easily cultivated. It is 
sliced and dried for soups in winter. 

Giblet Soup. 

Take the feet, neck, pinions, and giblets of two fowls, 
and add a pound and a half of veal, and a slice of lean 
ham. Pour on three quarts of cold water, and boil gent- 
ly till the meat is very soft. Strain off the liquor, and, 
when cold, take off the fat. Cut the giblets and meat 
into half-inch pieces ; add a tablespoonful of flour with 
one of butter, and some of the soup to thin it. Then 
put into the soup the butter and meat, with some sweet 
herbs tied in a bag, with salt to your taste. Boil it half 
an hour and it is done. 

6 



62 FISH. 



CHAPTER VII. 

FISH. 

Put fish into cold water to boil. 

Remove any mud taste by soaking in strong salt and 
water. 

It is cooked enough when it easily cleaves from the 
bone, and is injured by cooking longer. 

Put a napkin under, to absorb dampness, when boiled 
fish is laid on the dish. 

To fry, dip in egg and bread crumbs, and use lard, 
not butter. Garnish with parsley. 

Halibut is best cut in slices, and fried, or broiled. Bass 
are good every way. Black fish are best broiled or fried. 
Shad are best broiled, and sprinkle them with salt some 
hours before broiling. Salt shad and mackerel must be 
soaked over night for broiling. Sturgeons are best fried ; 
the part near the tail is best for this. 

Directions for vnaking Chowder. 

The best fish for chowder are haddock and striped 
bass. Cut the fish in pieces of an inch thick, and two 
inches square. Take six or eight good-sized slices of 
salt pork, and put in the bottom of an iron pot, and 
fry them in the pot till crisped. Take out the pork, 
leaving the fat. Chop the pork fine. Put in the pot a 
layer of fish, a layer of split crackers, some of the chop- 
ped pork, black and red pepper, and chopped onion, then 
another layer of fish, split crackers, and seasoning. This 
do till you have used your fish. Then just cover the 
fish with water, and stew slowly till the fish is perfectly 
tender. Take out the fish, and put it in the dish in which 
you mean to serve it ; set it to keep warm. Thickea 
the gravy with pounded cracker ; add, if you like, mush- 
room catsup and Port wine. Boil the gravy up once, 



FISH. 63 

and pour over the fish : squeeze in the juice of a lemon, 
and garnish with slices of lemon. 

If not salt enough from the pork, more must be ad- 
ded. 

To Fry Fish. 

Fry some slices of salt pork, say a slice for each pound, 
and when brown take them up, and add lard enough to 
cover the fish. Skim it well, and have it hot, then dip 
the fish in flour, without salting it, and fry a light brown. 
Then take the fish up, and add to the gravy a little 
flour paste, pepper, salt ; also wine, catsup, and spices, if 
you like. Put the fish and pork on a dish, and, after 
one boil, pour this gravy over the whole. 

Fish are good dipped first in egg and then in Indian 
meal, or cracker crumbs and egg, previous to frying. 

To Boil Fish. 

Fill the fish with a stuffing of chopped salt pork, and 
bread, or bread and butter, seasoned with salt and pep- 
per, and sew it up. Then sew it into a cloth, or you 
cannot take it up well. Put it in cold water, with wa- 
ter enough to cover it, salted at the rate of a teaspoonful 
of salt to each pound of fish, and about three tablespoon- 
fuls of vinegar. Boil it slowly for twenty or thirty min- 
utes, or till the fin is easily drawn out. Serve with drawn 
butter and eggs, with capers or nasturtions in it. 

Fish can be baked in the same way, except sewing it 
up in a cloth. Instead of this, cover it with egg and 
cracker, or bread crumbs. 

To Broil Fish. 

Salt fish must be soaked several hours before broiling. 
Rub suet on the bars of your gridiron, then jput the fish 
flesh side down (some say skin side down, as it saves 
the juices better), and broil till nearly cooked through 
Then lay a dish on it, and turn the fish by inverting the 
gridiron over the dish. Broil slowly, and never pile broiled 
fish one above another on the dish. 



64 FISH. 



Baked Fish. 



Cod, bass, and shad are good for baking. Stuff them 
with a seasoning made of bread crumbs or crackers, but- 
ter, salt, pepper, and, if you like, spices. Put the fish in 
a bake-pan, with a tea-cup of water, and a bit of butter, 
and bake from forty-five to sixty minutes. 

Cod Sounds and Tongues. 

Soak them four hours in blood-warm water, then 
scrape off the skin, cut them up, and stew them in a lit- 
tle milk till tender. Just before taking up stir in butter, 
and a little flour paste, and scatter cold boiled eggs cut 
up over them. 

To Cook Salt Codfish, 

Soak the fish in a pailful of water all night. Then 
hang it in a good deal of water where it will be kept 
warm. Put one even great spoonful of saleratus in the 
water. (This last softens it as nothing else will do.) 
Change the water an hour before dinner, and hang it 
where it will get scalding hot. It must not boil, but 
only simmer. Take it up into a napkin, so as to keep 
it dry and hot. 

To Cook Cold Codfish. 

Mash boiled potatoes, mash the fish and mix with 
them, adding some cream or milk, and a little pepper, 
make them into round cakes an inch thick, and fry 
them in fresh lard. 

To Cook Oysters. 

Oysters are best roasted in the shell, convex side 
downward, to hold the juices, and cooked till they will 
open well. They are good also cooked in a batter 
made by adding wheat flour to the juice till it is a bat- 
ter, and adding two eggs and a salt spoonful of salt. 
Fry in hot lard to a light brown. 

Lobsters. 
These must never be cooked after they are dead. 



FISH. 65 

Put them alive into boiling water, and boil them till the 
small joints come off easily. 

Scolloped Oysters, 

Take the oysters from the liquor, and place some at 
the bottom of the dish, then grate some bread over them, 
a little nutmeg, pepper, salt, and cloves. Add another 
laying of oysters, and the seasoning, a little butter, and 
a glass of wine. Cover the whole with grated bread, 
and bake half an hour, or perhaps a little more. There 
will be liquor enough without adding any water or 
oyster broth. 

Pickled Oysters. 

After taking out the oysters, to each quart of liquor 
put a teaspoonful of pepper, two blades of mace, three 
tablespoonfuls of white wine, and four of vinegar, also 
a tablespoonful of salt. Simmer the oysters in this five 
minutes, then take them out and put in jars, then boil 
the pickle, skim it, and pour it over them. 

To Crimp Fresh Fish. 

Cut in slices and lay them for three hours in salt and 
water, and a glass of vinegar, then fry or broil them. 

To Cook Eels. 

Dress them, lay them open flat, rub them with salt 
and pepper, cut them in short pieces, and broil them. 
Small ones are best skinned and fried. 

To Cook Scollops. 

Boil them, take out the hearts (which is the only part 
used), dip them in flour and fry brown in lard, or stew 
with butter, pepper, salt, and a little water. 

A Good Way of Using Cold Fresh Fish. 

Take cold cooked fish, chop it with bread crumbs, 
pepper, salt, and boiled salt pork, or ham ; season with 
salt, pepper, catsup, or wine. Mould into balls with egg 
and bread crumbs, and fry in lard. 

6* 



66 ON THE PREPARATION OF 

To Cook Clams, 

Thin-edged clams are the best ones. Roast them in 
a pan over a hot fire, or in a hot oven, placing them so 
as to save the juice. When they open, empty the juice 
into a sauce-pan, and add the clams with butter, pepper, 
and very little salt. 

To boil them, put them in a pot with a very little 
water, and so as to save their juices. Proceed as above, 
and lay buttered toast in the dish when you take them 
up. Clams are good put into a batter and fried. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

ON THE PREPARATION OF HASHES, GRAVIES, AND SAUCES. 

There is nothing worse for the health, or for the pal- 
ate, than a poor hash, while a good hash is not only a 
favorite dish in most families, but an essential article of 
economy and convenience. For this reason, a separate 
article is devoted to this subject. 

The following are the ways in which hashes are 
spoilt. 

The first is by cooking them. Meat, when once 
cooked, should only be heated. If it is again stewed or 
fried, it tends to make it hard and tough, and diminish- 
es its flavor. 

The second is by frying the butter or gravy in 
which they are prepared. It has been shown that this 
is very injurious to the healthfulness of food. Butter 
and oils may be melted without changing their nature, 
but when cooked, they become much more indigestible 
and injurious to weak stomachs. 

The third mode of injuring hashes is by putting in 
flour in such ways that it is not properly cooked. Flour 
dredged on to hashes while they are cooking generally 
imparts the raw taste of dough. 



HASHES, GRAVIES, AND SAUCES. 67 

The fourth mode is by putting in so much water as 
to make them vapid, or else so much grease as to make 
them gross. 

The fifth is by seasoning them with so little care, that 
they either have very little savory taste, or else are so 
hot with pepper and spice as to be unhealthy. 

If a housekeeper will follow these directions, or give 
them to a cook who will follow them exactly, she will 
always have good and healthful hashes. 

To prepare Gravy for a Cold Beef Hash, or Steak 

Hash. 

For a small dish for six persons, put a tea-cup and a 
half of boiling water into a small sauce-pan, and make a 
thin paste with a heaping teaspoonful of flour, wet with 
a great spoonful of cold water. Stir it in, and boil it three 
minutes. Then put in half a teaspoonful of black pep- 
per and rather more salt, and let it stand where it will be 
kept hot, but not boiling, till fifteen minutes before it is 
to be used. 

Then cut the beef into half-inch mouthfuls and take 
as many mouthfuls of cold boiled potato, and half as 
many of cold turnip. Put these all together into a tin 
pan the size of a dining plate. Then stir in two great 
spoonfuls of butter into the gravy till melted, and, if you 
like tomato catsup, add a great spoonful, and pour it 
over the hash, and cover it with a plate and let it heat 
on the stove, or trivet, ten minutes, and then serve it. 

If the hash is made without vegetables, take only a 
tea-cup full of water, and a teaspoonful of flour, and 
a little less pepper and salt. 

If you have the beef gravy of yesterday, use it instead 
of butter, and put in less pepper, salt, butter, and wa- 
ter, and only one spoonful of butter. 

If tomatoes are liked, peel and slice two large ones, 
and add with the potatoes and turnips. 

Let a housekeeper try this, and then vary it to her 
own taste, or the taste of her family, and then write 
the exact proportions for the use of all the future cooks 
of her family. 



68 ON THE PREPARATION OF 

Gravy for a Mutton Hash, or Venison Hash. 

For a dish for six persons, take a tea-cup and a half 
of boiling water, and slice fine one small onion (say one 
an inch in diameter) into it, to give a slight flavor of 
onion, and thus hide the strong mutton taste. Mix a 
thin paste made with a heaping teaspoonful of flour, wet 
with a great spoonful of water, stir it in, and let it boil 
three minutes, adding a half a teaspoonful of black pep- 
par, and rather more salt. Then set it where it will keep 
hot, but not boil, till wanted. 

Cut the mutton into half-inch mouthfuls, leaving out 
most of the fat. Cut up the same number of mouthfuls 
of cold boiled potatoes, and half as much cold boiled tur- 
nips, and slice in two large peeled tomatoes, or cold boiled 
parsnip, or both. Mix them in a tin pan the size of a 
dining plate, stir two great spoonfuls of butter into the 
gravy, and, if you like, a great spoonful of tomato cat- 
sup, and pour it on to the hash. Cover it with a plate, 
and set it to heat ten minutes on the stove, or on a trivet 
over coals. 

If you do not put in vegetables, take less water, salt, 
and pepper. If you do not put in onion, put in a wine- 
glass of currant, plum, or grape jelly, or squeeze in some 
lemon juice when you add the butter, and leave out the 
catsup, or not, as you like. Modify to suit your taste, 
and then write the proportions exactly, for all future 
cooks of your family. 

To prepare a Veal Hash. 

Take a tea-cup of boiling water in a sauce-pan, and 
mix in an even teaspoonful of flour wet with a spoonful 
of cold water, and let it boil five minutes. Then add, 
not quite half a teaspoonful of black pepper, as mucli 
salt, and two great spoonfuls of butter, and set it where 
it will keep hot, but not boil. 

Chop the veal very fine, and mix with it, while chop- 
ping, half as much stale bread crumbs. Put it in a tin 
pan and pour the gravy on to it, and let it heat on a 
btove or trivet ten minutes. 




HASHES, GRAVIES, AND SAUCES. 69 

Toast some bread and cut it into triangular pieces, and 
lay it on the bottom of a dish. Spread the hash over, 
and pour on the gravy. Cut slices of lemon to lay on 
the top and around the edge of the platter. 

If you like a seasoning of sweet herbs with this hash, 
the nicest way is to tie some in a rag and boil it in the 
water of the gravy when you first mix it. 

Common Gravies. 

Pour out the drippings of the tin roaster through a 
gravy strainer, into a pan, and set it away till cold. 
Next day, scrape the sediment from the bottom and then 
use it to make gravy in place of butter, for hashes. 
Mutton drippings must never be used for cooking. 

It is not fashionable to have gravy made for roast beef 
or mutton, as the juice of the meat is preferred, which, 
on the plate, is mixed with catsup or whatever is prefer- 
red. 

Gravies for poultry are made as directed in the article 
on roasting meats. 

Drawn butter is the foundation of most common 
gravies, and is to be prepared in either of the two ways 
described below. 

Drawn Butter, or Melted Butter. 

Rub in two teaspoonfuls of flour into a quarter of a 
pound of butter. Add five tablespoonfuls of cold water. 
Set it into boiling water and let it melt, and heat until 
it begins to simmer, and it is done. Never simmer it on 
coals, as it fries the oil and spoils it. Be careful not to 
have the flour in lumps. If it is to be used with fish, 
put in chopped eggs and nasturtions, or capers. 

If used with boiled fowl, put in oysters while it is sim- 
mering, and let them heat through. 

Another Mode of preparing Drawn Butter. 

Make three teaspoonfuls of flour into a thin batter, 
and stir it into a tea-cup of boiling water in a sauce -pan, 
and let it boil five minutes. Then take it off, and cut 
up a quarter of a pound of butter into pieces, and put in 



70 ON THE PREPARATION OF 

and keep it hot till it is melted. This is the easiest way, 
and if it is for very rich cooking more butter may be ad- 
ded. 

Draivn Meat Gravies, or Brown Gravies. 

Put into a sauce-pan fresh meat cut in small pieces, 
seasoned with salt and pepper and a bit of butter, and 
heat it half an hour, till brown, stirring so that it shall 
not stick. 

Pour on boiling water, a pint for each pound — sim- 
mer three hours and skim it well. Settle and strain it, 
and set it aside to use. Thicken, w r hen you need it, 
with brown flour, a teaspoonful to a half pint. 

A Nice Article to use for Gravy, or Soup. 

Take butter the size of an egg, add a tablespoonful 
of sugar, put it in a skillet, and stir it till a dark brown, 
then dredge in flour, and use it to darken gravy or soup. 

Burnt Butter for Fish, or Eggs. 

Heat two ounces of butter in a frying-pan, till a dark 
brown, then add a tablespoonful of vinegar, half a teaspoon- 
ful of salt, and half a dozen shakes from the pepper 
box. 

Sauce for Salad, or Fish. 

Take the yolk of two eggs boiled hard, mash them 
with a mustard spoonful of mustard, a little black pep- 
per, a little salt, three tablespoonfuls of salad oil, and 
three of vinegar. A tablespoonful of catsup would im- 
prove it for many. 

Wine Sauce for Mutton, or Yenison. 

Take half a pint of the liquor in which the meat was 
cooked, and when boiling, put in pepper, salt, currant 
jelly, and wine to your taste ; add about a teaspoonful 
of scorched flour, mixed with a little water. 

Oyster Sauce. 
Take a pint of oyster juice, add a little salt and pep- 
per, and a stick of mace, boil it five minutes, and then 
add two teaspoonfuls of flour, wet up in half a tea-cup 



HASHES, GRAVIES, AND SAUCES. 71 

of milk. Let this boil two minutes, then put in the 
oysters and a bit of butter the size of an egg ; in two 
minutes take them up. 

Lobster Sauce. 

Mix in six tablespoonfuls of vinegar, the yolks of two 
boiled eggs, some of the lobster spawn, a mustard spoon- 
ful of mustard, two tablespoonfuls of salad oil or melted 
butter, and a little salt and pepper. 

Apple Sauce. 
Boil peeled and quartered tart apples, and put in but- 
ter and sugar to your taste. If boiled in cider with quin- 
ces, it will keep a long time. The fresh-made is best. 

Celery Sauce for Boiled Foivls. 
Take four or five celery heads, and cut up all but the 
green tops into small pieces, and boil it in half a pint of 
water till tender. Mix two teaspoonfuls of flour with a 
little milk and put in, with a salt spoonful of salt, and 
butter the size of an egg. When it boils, take it up. 

Celery Vinegar. 

This is fine to keep in the castor stand. Pound two 
gills of celery seed, and add sharp vinegar. Shake every 
day for a week or two. The flavor of sweet herbs and 
sage can be obtained by pouring vinegar on to them, and 
for three successive days taking them out, and putting 
in a fresh supply of herbs. It must be kept corked and 
sealed. 

Essence of Celery ', to flavor Soup. 

Bruise celery seed, and steep it in brandy for a fort- 
night. An ounce to half a pint of brandy is enough. 
Half a teaspoonful will flavor soup. 

Herb Spirit. 
It is convenient sometimes to use herb spirit instead 
of the herbs. It is made thus. Take all the sweet 
herbs, as thyme, marjoram, sweet basil, and summer 
savory, dry, pound, sift, and steep in brandy for a fort- 
night ; an ounce to half a pint. 



72 HASHES, GRAVIES, AND SAUCES. 

Soup Powder. 

The following is a very convenient article for soups. 
Dry, pound, and sift the following ingredients together. 
Take one ounce each, of lemon, thyme, basil, sweet 
marjoram, summer savory, and dried lemon peel, with 
two ounces of dried parsley, and a few dried celery seeds. 
Bottle it tight. Horseradish can be sliced thin, dried 
and pounded, and kept in a bottle for use. Mushrooms 
can be dried in a moderately warm oven, then powdered 
with a little mace and pepper, and kept to season soup 
or sauces. 

Soy. 

One pound of salt, two pounds of sugar, fried half an 
hour over a slow fire, then add three pints of boiling 
water, half a pint of essence of anchovies, a dozen cloves, 
and some sweet herbs. Boil till the salt dissolves, then 
strain and bottle it. 

Tomato Catsup. 

Pour boiling water on the tomatoes, let them stand un- 
til you can rub off the skin, then cover them with salt, 
and let them stand twenty-four hours. Then strain 
them, and to two quarts put three ounces of cloves, two 
ounces of pepper, two nutmegs. Boil half an hour, then 
add a pint of wine. 

Mushroom Catsup. 

Put the mushrooms in layers, with salt sprinkled over 
each layer, and let them stand four days. Then mash 
them fine, and to every quart add two-thirds of a tea- 
spoonful of black pepper, and boil it in a stone jar set in 
boiling water two hours. Strain it without squeezing, 
boil the liquor, let it stand to cool and settle, then bottle, 
cork, and seal it, and set it in a cool place. 

Walnut Catsup. 

Bruise ten dozen young walnuts, add a quart of vinegar, 
and three-fourths of a pound of fine salt. Let them stand 
two weeks, stirring every day. Strain off the liquor, 






VEGETABLES. 73 

and add half an ounce of black pepper whole, thirty 
cloves, half an ounce of bruised nutmeg", half an ounce 
of ginger, and four sticks of mace. Boil the whole an 
hour, then strain and bottle tight. 



CHAPTER IX. 

VEGETABLES. 

Potatoes. 



The great art of cooking potatoes is, to take them 
up as soon as they are done. Of course it is important 
to begin to cook them at the proper time. 

When boiled, baked, fried, or steamed, they are ren- 
dered watery by continuing to cook them after they reach 
the proper point. For this reason, potatoes, to bake or 
boil, should be selected so as to have them nearly the 
same size. Begin with the largest first, and continue to 
select the largest till all are gone. Be careful that the 
water does not stop boiling, as thus the potatoes will be 
watery. Never boil them very hard, as it breaks them. 

Boiled Potatoes. 

Wash, but do not cut them. Put them in boiling 
water, having only a small quantity more than enough 
to cover them. Put salt in, say a great spoonful to half 
a pailful of potatoes. Boil them moderately ; when near- 
ly done, let them simmer slowly, and when cooked (as is 
discovered, not by their cracking, but by a fork) pour off 
the water, and let them stand till dry. Medium-sized 
potatoes, when young, will cook in from twenty to thirty 
minutes ; when old, it requires double the time. When 
peeled they boil fifteen minutes quicker. Old potatoes, 
in the spring, are improved by soaking in water all 
night. 

7 



74 VEGETABLES. 

Other Modes of Cooking Potatoes, 

After boiling and peeling them, divide them and* lay 
them on a gridiron to brown. Or when cold, the day 
after boiling, cut them in slices, and cook them on a 
griddle, with just enough lard to make them brown, or 
you can brown them on a gridiron. 

Another pretty mode for a fancy dish is, to peel large 
potatoes and then cut them round and round in shavings, 
as you pare an apple. Fry them with clean sweet lard 
in a frying-pan, till brown, stirring them to brown alike, 
drain them on a sieve, and after sprinkling a little fine 
salt over them, place them on the table. 

Another tasteful mode is, after boiling and peeling 
them, to flour them, then dip them in the yolk of an egg, 
and roll them in fine bread crumbs. Then fry them till 
brown and they look very handsomely, and are excel- 
lent to the taste. Fry them without this preparation 
and they are very nice. 

When potatoes become old, mash them fine, season 
with salt and butter, and a little cream or milk, place 
them in a dish, smoothing and shaping the top hand- 
somely, and making checks with a knife ; then brown 
them in a stove, or range-oven, and they are excellent. 
These can also be made into balls, dipped in egg and 
crumbs, and fried as directed above, and they look very 
handsomely. 

Potatoes, when roasted, should be very carefully 
washed and rinsed, and then roasted in a Dutch oven, 
or stove oven. Notice, lest they be put in too soon, and 
thus be made watery by cooking too long. 

The following is a very nice way of preparing pota- 
toes for breakfast. Peel them, and cut them in very 
thin slices into a very little boiling water, so little that it 
will be evaporated when they are cooked. At this point, 
add salt to your taste, some cream, or if you have not 
cream put in a very little milk and a bit of butter. A 
little practice will make this a very favorite dish in any 
family. The art is, to cook the potatoes with very little 
water, so that it will be evaporated at the time the pota- 



VEGETABLES, 75 

toes are clone. They must be stirred while cooking occa- 
sionally. 

Another mode is, to mash the potatoes and add salt, 
butter, and a little cream, and set them away. Then 
cut them in slices, and fry for breakfast. 

Many think the following the best way of boiling po- 
tatoes. Peel them, and soak in cold water two hours. 
Boil in just enough water to cover them. When about 
done, pour off the water, and let them steam five minutes 
uncovered. 

Turnips. 

Boil turnips in a vessel by themselves. Try them 
with a fork, and if sweet and good, send them to the ta- 
ble when taken up. If watery, mash them, wring them 
in a cloth, and add salt and butter, and if the sweetness 
is gone, add a little white sugar, and they will be as 
good as new. Boil them in a good deal of water, with 
salt in it. If they boil too long, they lose their sweetness 
and become bitter. An hour is the medium time re- 
quired. 

Asparagus. 

Keep it cool and moist on the cellar bottom till wanted. 

Throw it into cold water, cut off all that is tough, tie 
it in small bundles, salt the water when boiling, and 
then put them in and let them boil from fifteen to twen- 
ty-five minutes. When done, take it up with a skim- 
mer, lay it on buttered toast, and put butter on to it. 
Drain it well on the skimmer before putting it on the 
toast, or it will spoil the dish. 

Beets. 

Beets must not be cut, as this makes them lose their 
sweetness. Salt the water, and boil them in summer 
an hour, and in winter three hours. 

Parsnips and Carrots. 

Parsnips and carrots must be split, or else the outside 
is done too much before the inside is cooked sufficiently. 
Salt the water, and boil them when young half an hour, 



76 VEGETABLES. 

and two hours when old. Boil enough to have some to 
slice and fry for the next day's dinner or breakfast, as 
they are much the best cooked in this way. 

Onions. 

Select the w x hite kind, peel them and put them in 
boiling milk, a little salted, and boil them from half to 
three quarters of an hour. When taken up, drain in a 
colander, pour a little melted butter over them, or put 
on cold butter. 

Jerusalem Artichokes. 

Scrape them, and put them in boiling salted water. 
Boil large ones about two hours, then take them up and 
butter them. 

Squashes. 

Summer squashes boil whole, when very young. 
When older, quarter them, and take out the seeds. Put 
them into boiling salted water ; when done, squeeze out 
the water by wringing in a cloth, and add butter and 
salt to your taste. 

The neck part of the winter squash is the best ; cut 
it into slices, peel it, boil it in salted water till tender, then 
drain off the water, and serve it without mashing, or, if 
preferred, wring it and season with butter and salt. 
What is left over is excellent fried for next day's break- 
fast or dinner. It must be in slices, and not mashed. 
Save the water in which they are boiled, to make yeast 
or brown bread, for which it is excellent. 

Cabbage and Cauliflowers. 

Take off the outer leaves of a cabbage, cut the stalky 
part in quarters, down to the centre, put it in boiling 
salted water, and boil them from half an hour to an hour. 
Cabbages, like turnips, must have a good deal of water, 
or they will taste strong. 

For cauliflowers, cut off all the leaves but the small 
ones mixed with the head, and boil in salted water till 
it is tender. Some wrap some of the large leaves around 



VEGETABLES. 7T 

the head, and tie them on, and when cooked throw aside 
the leaves. Drain the cauliflower with a skimmer and 
eat it with drawn butter. 



Most vegetables must be put in water only sufficient 
to cover them, allowing a little more for evaporation. 
Strong vegetables like turnips, cabbage, and some of the 
greens, require a good deal of water. 

Peas, 

Peas, to be good, must be fresh from the vines. 
Throw them into boiling salted water, and cook them 
from fifteen to thirty minutes, according to their age. 
When old, they are improved by putting a very little 
saleratus into the water, say a quarter of a teaspoonful 
to half a peck of shelled peas. 

Sweet Corn, 

If it is to be boiled on the cob, put it in salted boiling wa- 
ter, and let it cook from twenty minutes to three quarters of 
an hour after it begins to boil, according to the age of 
the corn. 

Succatosh. 

If you wish to make succatosh, boil the beans from 
half to three quarters of an hour, in water a little salt, 
meantime cutting off the corn and throwing the cobs to 
boil with the beans. Take care not to cut too close to 
the cob. as it imparts a bad taste. When the beans have 
boiled the time above mentioned, take out the cobs, and 
add the corn, and let the whole boil from fifteen to twen- 
ty minutes, for young corn, and longer for older com. 
Make the proportions two-thirds corn and one-third beans. 
Where you have a mess amounting to two quarts of 
corn and one quart of beans, take two table spoonfuls of 
flour, wet it into a thin paste, and stir it into the succatosh, 
and let it boil up for five minutes. Then lay some but- 
ter in a dish, take it up into it, and add more salt if 
need be. 

7* 



78 VEGETABLES. 

Beans. 

Throw them into salted boiling water, and cook them 
from an hour to an hour and a half, according to the 
age. A little saleratus improves them when old ; a piece 
as big as a pea will do. If you put in too much, the 
skins will slip off. 

Egg Plant. 

Boil them in a good deal of water a few minutes, to 
get out the bitter taste, then cut them in slices, and 
sprinkle a little salt on them. Then fry them brown in 
lard or butter. If they are fried on a griddle, with only 
butter enough to keep them from sticking, they are bet- 
ter than when more butter is used. 

Baked Beans. 

Pick over the beans the night before, and put them 
in warm water to soak, where they will be kept warm 
all night. Next morning pour off the water, and pour 
on boiling water, and let them stand and simmer till the 
beans are soft, and putting in with them a nice piece of 
pork, the skin gashed. Put them into the deep dish in 
which they are to bake, having water just enough to 
cover them. Bury the pork in the middle, so that the 
top will be even with the surface. All the garden beans 
are better for baking than the common field bean. They 
must bake in a moderately hot oven from two to three 
hours. 

Tomatoes. 

Pour on scalding water, and let them remain in it five 
minutes, to loosen the skins. Peel them, and put them 
in a stew-pan with a little salt and butter, and let them 
stew half an hour, and then pour them on to buttered 
toast. 

Another Way. — Peel them, put them in a deep dish, 
put salt and pepper, and a little butter over them, then 
make a layer of bread crumbs, or pounded crackers, then 
make another layer of tomatoes, and over these another 
layer of crumbs, till the dish is filled. The top layer 



VEGETABLES. 79 

must be crumbs. Some persons put nutmeg and sugar 
with the other seasoning. Bake three quarters of an 
hour, or more, according to the size. 

Another Way. — Peel them, put them in a stew-pan 
with some salt, boil them nearly half an hour, then put 
into them three or four beaten eggs, and more salt if 
needed, and very little pepper. Many would add a few 
small slices of onion. Most who have tried this last are 
very fond of it. 

Greens. 

Beet tops, turnip tops, spinach, cabbage sprouts, dan- 
delions, cowslips, all these boil in salted water till they 
are tender, then drain in a colander, pressing hard. 
Chop them a little, and warm them in a sauce-pan, with 
a little butter. 

Lay them on buttered toast, and if you like, garnish 
them with hard-boiled egg^ cut in slices. If not fresh, 
soak them half an hour in salt and water. 

Cucumbers. 

The chief art of preparing cucumbers consists in ma- 
king them cool and crisp. This is done by putting them 
in cold water for half an hour, and then cut them in thin 
slices into cold water. Then drain them in a colander, 
and season them with pepper, salt, and vinegar. 

Cucumbers are very nice cooked in this way. Peel 
and cut them into quarters, take out the seeds, and boil 
them like asparagus. Put them on to buttered toast, and 
put a little butter over them. 

Macaroni. 

Mix a pint of milk, and a pint of water, and a tea- 
spoonful of salt ; put in two ounces of macaroni, and 
boil till the liquor is wasted and the macaroni tender. 
Put on butter, or pour over some gravy. Cut the mac- 
aroni in pieces of three or four inches, in order to help 
it out more conveniently. 

Another Way. 

Simmer it in thin gravy ; when tender lay it in a dish, 



80 VEGETABLES. 

and grate on it old cheese, and over that grated bread. 
Pour over it melted butter, and set in a Dutch oven till 
of a brown color. 

To Cook Hominy. 

Wash in several waters, and boil it five hours, allow 
ing two quarts of water, and half a teaspoonful of salt, 
to every quart of hominy. Drain it through a colander, 
and add butter and salt, if needed. The small-grained 
requires less water and time. 

Macaroni Pudding, to eat with Meat. 

Simmer a quarter of a pound of macaroni in plenty 
of water, until it is tender. Strain off the water, and 
add a pint of milk or cream, an ounce of grated cheese, 
and a teaspoonful of salt. Mix well together, and strew 
over the top two ounces of grated cheese and crumbs of 
bread. Brown it well, in baking, on the top. It will 
bake in a quick oven in half an hour. It is appropriate 
to be eaten with boiled ham, or forms a course by itself, 
after meat. 

Salad. 

Salad, to be in perfection, should be fresh gathered, 
and put into salted cold water, which will remove all in- 
sects. Let them stand half an hour, and then drain 
them thoroughly. 

Mode of Dressing Salad. 

Take the yolks of one or two eggs boiled hard, mash 
them fine, mix with them pepper, salt, mustard, oil, and 
vinegar to your taste. Then cut up the salad, and mix 
it with this preparation. This is usually done at table. 

Mushroom. 

Cut off the lower part of the stem, peel them, and put 
them in a sauce-pan, with just water enough to prevent 
their burning at the bottom, put in a little salt, and shake 
them occasionally while cooking, to prevent burning. 
When tender, add butter, salt, and pepper to your taste, 



VEGETABLES. 81 

and wine and spice, if you like them. Serve them on 
buttered toast. 

Celeriac. 

This is very good, and but little known. It resem- 
bles celery in flavor, and is much more easily cultivated. 
Scrape and cut the roots in slices. Boil them very ten- 
der, drain off the water, add a little salt, and turn in just 
milk enough to cover them. Then take them up and 
add a little butter. 

Salsify, or Vegetable Oyster, 

Boil it till tender, then pour off the water, and add a 
little milk, and a little salt and butter. 

Another Way. — Parboil it, scraping off the outside, cut 
it in slices, dip it into beaten egg and fine bread crumbs, 
and fry it in lard. 

Another Way. — Make a batter of wheat flour, milk 
and eggs, and a little salt. Cut the salsify in slices ; af- 
ter it is boiled tender, put it in the batter, and drop this 
mixture into hot fat by the spoonful. Cook them a light 
brown. 

Southern Mode of Cooking Rice. 

Pick over the rice, and wash it in cold water. To 
a pint of rice, put three quarts of boiling water, and 
half a teaspoonful of salt. Boil it just seventeen min- 
utes from the time it fairly begins to boil. Then turn 
off all the water, and set it over a moderate fire, with 
the lid off, to steam fifteen minutes. Great care must 
be taken to be accurate. The rice water poured off is 
good to stiffen muslins. 

Common Mode of Cooking Rice. 

To a pint of clean rice, put three quarts of cold water, 
and a teaspoonful of salt. Boil it fifteen or twenty min- 
utes, then pour off the water, add milk and some cream, 
and let it boil a few minutes longer. It should not be 
so soft as to lose its form. 

In case you wish to fry it next morning, boil it long- 



82 VEGETABLES. 

er in the water, and omit the milk, or not, as you please. 
It is always a good plan to boil a good deal, so as to 
have it next day for griddle cakes, or to cut in slices 
and fry. 

Best Mode of Cooking Tomatoes. 

This vegetable is much improved by cooking a long 
time. 

Immediately after breakfast, begin by boiling two 
onions. If they are not liked, omit this part : but it is 
best to make the trial, as some can eat this, who cannot 
take onions any other way comfortably. 

Pour boiling water over a dozen large tomatoes, and 
peel them. Cut them into a stew-pan : add a tea-cup 
and a half of bread crumbs, a teaspoonful of black pep- 
per, a tablespoonful of salt, four tablespoonfuls of butter, 
and also the cooked onion. Set them where they will 
stew very slowly all the forenoon, the longer the better. 
Fifteen minutes before serving them, beat up six eo^s, 
and add, and give them a good boil, stirring all the time. 
(Indiana Receipt.) 

Sweet Potatoes. 

The best way to cook sweet potatoes is to bake them 
with their skins on. "When boiled, the largest should 
be put in first, so as to have all cook alike. Drain them 
and dry them, then peel them. They are excellent 
sliced and fried for breakfast next day ; much better than 
at first. 

Artichokes. 

Boil them till tender, drain them, and serve them 
with melted butter. 

Stewed Egg Plant. 

Take the purple kind, stew till soft, take off the skin, 
mash it with butter and sweet herbs, grate bread over 
the top, and bake it till brown. 









OVENS, YEASTj BREAD, AND BISCUIT. 83 



CHAPTER X. 

OVENS, YEAST, BREAD, AND BISCUIT. 

On Constructing and Heating an Oven. 

The best ovens are usually made thus. After the 
arch is formed, four or five bushels of ashes are spread 
over it, and then a covering of charcoal over that, then 
another layer of bricks over all. The use of this is, that 
the ashes become heated, and the charcoal being a non- 
conductor, the heat is retained much longer. In such 
an oven, cake and pies can be baked after the bread is 
taken out, and then custards after them. Sometimes 
four bakings are done in succession. 

The first time an oven is used, it should be heated 
the day previous for half a day, and the oven lid kept 
up after the fire is out, till heated for baking. 

As there is so little discretion to be found in those who 
heat ovens, the housekeeper will save much trouble and 
mortification by this arrangement. Have oven wood 
prepared of sticks of equal size and length. Find, by 
trial, how many are required to heat the oven, and then 
require that just that number be used, and no more. 

The fire must be made the back side of the oven, and 
the oven must be heated so hot as to allow it to be clo- 
sed fifteen minutes after clearing, before the heat is redu- 
ced enough to use it. This is called soaking. If it is 
burnt down entirely to ashes, the oven may be used as 
soon as cleared. 

How to know ivhen an Oven is at the right Heat. 

An experienced cook will know without rules. For a 
novice, the following rules are of some use in determin- 
ing. If the black spots in the oven are not burnt off, it 
is not hot, as the bricks must all look red. If you sprin- 
kle flour on the bottom, and it burns quickly, it is too hoi. 



84 OVENS, YEAST, BREAD, AND BISCUIT. 

If you cannot hold your hand in longer than to count 
twenty moderately, it is hot enough. 

If you can count thirty moderately, it is not hot enough 
for bread. 

These last are not very accurate tests, as the power to 
bear heat is so diverse in different persons ; but they are 
as good rules as can be given, where there has been no 
experience. 

How to know when Bread is Sour, or Heavy. 

If the bread is sour, on opening it quick and deeply 
with your fingers, and applying the nose to the opening, 
a tingling and sour odor escapes. This is remedied by 
taking a teaspoonful of saleratus, for every four quarts 
of flour, very thoroughly dissolved in hot water, which is 
to be put in a hole made in the middle, and very thorough- 
ly kneaded in, or there will be yellow streaks. 

If the bread is light and not sour, it will, on opening 
it deep and suddenly, send forth a pungent and brisk, 
but not a sour odor, and it will look full of holes, like 
sponge. Some may mistake the smell of light bread for 
that of sour bread, but a little practice will show the dif- 
ference very plainly. 

If the bread is light before the oven is ready, knead it 
a little without adding flour, and set it in a cool place. 

If it rises too much, it loses all sweetness, and noth- 
ing but care and experience will prevent this. The best 
of flour will not make sweet bread, if it is allowed to rise 
too much, even when no sourness is induced. 

How to treat Bread when taken from the Oven. 

Never set it flat on a table, as it sweats the bottom, 
and acquires a bad taste from the table. 

Always take it out of the tins, and set it up end way, 
leaning against something. 

If it has a thick, hard crust, wrap it in a cloth wrung 
out of cold water. 

Keep it in a tin box, in a cool place, where it will not 
freeze. 






OVENS, YEAST, BREAD, AND BISCUIT. 85 

Yeast. 

The article in which yeast is kept must, when new 
yeast is made, or fresh yeast bought, be scalded and 
emptied, and then have a salt spoonful of saleratus put 
in, and be rinsed out again with warm water. If it is glass, 
rinsing twice with warm water will answer. Junk bot- 
tles are best for holding yeast, because they can be cork- 
ed tight, and easily cleansed. 

Potato Yeast. 

By those w T ho use potato yeast, it is regarded as much 
the best, as it raises bread quicker than common home- 
brewed yeast, and, best of all, never imparts the sharp, 
disagreeable yeast taste to bread or cake, often given by 
hop yeast. 

Mash half a dozen peeled boiled potatoes, and mix in 
a handful x>f wheat flour, and two teaspoonfuls of salt, 
and after putting it through a colander, add hot water 
till it is a batter. When blood warm, put in half a tea- 
cup of distillery yeast, or twice as much potato, or other 
home-brewed. When raised, keep it corked tight, and 
make it new very often in hot weather. It can easily 
be made when potatoes are boiled for dinner. 

Home-made Yeasty which will keep Good a Month. 

Four quarts of water, two handfuls of hops, eight 
peeled potaioes, sliced, all boiled soft, mixed and strain- 
ed through a sieve. To this, add a batter, made one- 
third of Indian, and two-thirds of rye, in a pint of cold 
water, and then boil the whole ten minutes. When 
cool as new milk, add a tea-cup of molasses, a table- 
spoonful of ginger, and a tea-cup of distillery yeast, or 
twice as much home-brewed. 

Home-brewed Yeast more easily made. 

Boil a handful of hops half an hour in three pints of 
water. Pour half of it, boiling hot, through a sieve, on 
to nine spoonfuls of flour, mix, and then add the rest 
of the hop water. Add a spoonful of salt, half a cup of 
molasses, and when blood warm, a cup of yeast. 



86 OVENS, YEAST, BREAD, AND BISCUIT. 

Hard Yeast. 

This often is very convenient, especially for hot weath- 
er, when it is difficult to keep yeast. 

Take some of the best yeast you can make, and thick- 
en it with Indian meal, and if you have rye, add a little 
to make it adhere better. Make it into cakes an inch 
thick, and three inches by two in size, and dry it in a 
drying wind, but not it the sun. Keep it tied in a bag, 
in a dry, cool place, where it will not freeze. 

One of these cakes is enough for four quarts of flour. 
When you wish to use it, put it to soak in milk or w r a- 
ter for several hours, and then use it like other yeast. 

Rubs, or Flour Hard Yeast. 

This is better than hard yeast made with Indian. 

Take two quarts of best home-brewed yeast, and a 
tablespoonful of salt, and mix in wheat flour, so that it 
will be in hard lumps. Set it in a dry, warm place (but 
not in the sun) till quite dry. Then leave out the fine 
parts to use the next baking, and put up the lumps in 
a bag, and hang it in a dry place. 

In using this yeast, take a pint of the rubs for six 
quarts of flour, and let it soak from noon till night. 
Then wet up the bread to bake next day. 

Brewer's and distillery yeast cannot be trusted to make 
hard yeast. Home-brewed is the best, and some house- 
keepers say, the only yeast for this purpose. 

Milk Yeast. 

One pint of new milk, and one teaspoonful of fine salt. 
One large spoonful of flour. Mix, and keep it blood 
warm an hour. Use twice as much as the common 
yeast. Bread soon spoils made of this. 

Wheat Bread of Distillery, or Brewer's Yeast. 

Take eight quarts of flour, and two of milk, a table- 
spoonful of salt, a gill and a half of distillery yeast, and 
sometimes rather more, if not first rate. Take double 
the quantity of home-brewed yeast. 



OVENS, YEAST, BREAD, AND BISCUIT. 87 

Sift the flour, then make an opening in the middle, 
pour in a part of the wetting, and put in the salt. Then 
mix in a good part of the flour. Then pour in the yeast, 
and mix it well, then add the rest of the wetting, using 
up the flour so as to make a stiff dough. Knead it half 
an hour, till it cleaves clean from the hand. 

This cannot be wet over night, as, if the yeast is good, 
it will rise in one or two hours. 

Some persons like bread best wet with water, but most 
very much prefer bread wet with milk. If you have 
skimmed milk, warm it with a small bit of butter, and 
it is nearly as good as new milk. 

You need about a quart of wetting to four quarts of 
flour. Each quart of flour makes a common-sized 
loaf. 

Wheat Bread of Home-brewed Yeast. 

Sift eight quarts of flour into the kneading tray, make 
a deep hole in the middle, pour into it a pint of yeast, 
mixed with a pint of lukewarm water, and then work 
up this with the surrounding flour, till it makes a thick 
batter. Then scatter a handful of flour over this bat- 
ter, lay a warm cloth over the whole, and set it in a 
warm place. This is called sponge. 

When the sponge is risen so as to make cracks in the 
flour over it (which will be in from three to five hours), 
then scatter over it two tablespoonfuls of salt, and put in 
about two quarts of wetting, warm, but not hot enough to 
scald the yeast, and sufficient to wet it. Be careful not 
to put in too much of the wetting at once. 

Knead the whole thoroughly for as much as half an 
hour, then form it into a round mass, scatter a little flour 
over it, cover it, and set it to rise in a warm place. It 
usually will take about one quart of wetting to four 
quarts of flour. 

In winter, it is best to put the bread in sponge over 
night, when it must be kept warm all night. In sum- 
mer it can be put in sponge early in the morning, for if 
made over night, it would become sour. 



*8 OVENS, YEAST. BREAD, AND BISCUIT. 

Bakers Bread. 

Take a gill of distillery yeast, or twice as much fresh 
home-brewed yeast, add a quart of warm (not hot) wa- 
ter, and flour enough to make a thin batter, and let it 
rise in a warm place all night. This is the sponge. 

Next day, put seven quarts of sifted flour into the 
kneading tray, make a hole in the centre, and pour in 
the sponge. Then dissolve a bit of volatile salts, and a 
bit of alum, each the size of a hickory-nut, and finely 
powdered, in a little cold water, and add it, with a heap- 
ing tablespoonful of salt, to the sponge, and also a quart 
more of blood- warm water. 

Work up the flour and Avetting to a dough, knead it 
well, divide it into three or four loaves, prick it with a 
fork, put it in buttered pans, and let it rise one hour, and 
then bake it about an hour. Add more flour, or more 
water, as you find the dough too stiff, or too soft. 

A teaspoonful of saleratus can be used instead of the 
volatile salts and alum, but it is not so good. 

Wheat Bread of Potato Yeast. 

This is made like bread made with home-brewed 
yeast, except that you may put in almost any quantity 
of the potato yeast without injury. Those who use po- 
tato yeast like it much better than any other. The 
only objection to it is, that in summer it must be made 
often, as it will not keep sweet long. But it is very 
easily renewed. The chief advantage is, that it rises 
quick, and never gives the sharp and peculiar taste so 
often imparted to bread and cake by all yeast made with 
hops. 

Potato Bread. 

Rub a dozen peeled and boiled potatoes through a very 
coarse sieve, and mix with them twice the quantity of 
flour, mixing very thoroughly. Put in a coffee-cup full 
of home-brewed, or of potato yeast, or half as much of dis- 
tillery yeast, also a teaspoonful of salt. Add whatever 
water may be needed to make a dough as stiff as for 
common flour bread. 



OVENS, YEAST, BREAD, AND BISCUIT. 89 

An ounce or two of butter rubbed into the flour, and 
an egg beat and put into the yeast, and you can have 
fine rolls, or warm cakes for breakfast. 

This kind of bread is very moist, and keeps well. 

Cream Tartar Bread. 

Three pints of dried flour, measured after sifting. 

Two cups of milk. 

Half a teaspoonful of salt. 

One teaspoonful of soda (Super Carbonate). 

Two teaspoonfuls of cream tartar. 

Dissolve the soda in half a tea-cup of hot water, and 
put it w T ith the salt into the milk. Mix the cream tar- 
tar very thoroughly in the flour : the whole success de- 
pends on this. Just as you are ready to bake, pour in 
the milk, knead it up sufficiently to mix it well, and 
then put it in the oven as quick as possible. Add either 
more flour or more wetting, if needed, to make dough to 
mould. Work in half a cup of butter after it is wet, and 
it makes good short biscuit. 

Eastern Brown Bread. 

One quart of rye. 

Two quarts of Indian meal : if fresh and sweet, do not 
scald it ; if not, scald it. 

Half a tea-cup of molasses. 

Two teaspoonfuls of salt. 

One teaspoonful of saleratus. 

A tea-cup of home-brewed yeast, or half as much dis- 
tillery yeast. . 

Make it as stiff as can be stirred with a spoon with 
warm water. Let it rise from night till morning. Then 
put it in a large deep pan, and smooth the top with the 
hand dipped in cold water, and let it stand a while. Bake 
five or six hours. If put in late in the day, let it remain 
all night in the oven. 

Rye Bread. 

A quart of water, and as much milk. 

Two teaspoonfuls of salt, and a tea-cup of Indian 
meal. 



90 OVENS, YEAST, BREAD, AND BISCUIT. 

A tea-cup full of home-brewed yeast, or half as much 
distillery yeast. 

Make it as stiff as wheat bread, with rye flour. 

Rice Bread. — No. 1. 

One pint of rice, boiled till soft. 
Two quarts of rice flour, or wheat flour. 
A teaspoonful of salt. 

A tea-cup of home-brewed, or half as much distillery 
yeast. 

Milk to make it so as to mould like wheat bread. 

Rice Bread. — No, 2. 

Three half pints of ground rice. 

Two teaspoonfuls (not heaping) of salt. 

Two gills of home-brewed yeast. 

Three quarts of milk, or milk and water. Mix the 
rice with cold milk and water to a thin gruel, and boil 
it three minutes. Then stir in wheat flour till as 
stiff as can be stirred "with a spoon. When blood warm, 
add the yeast. This keeps moist longer than No. 1. 

Bread of Unbolted Wheat, or Graham Bread. 

Three pints of warm water. 

One tea-cup of Indian meal, and one of wheat flour. 

Three great spoonfuls of molasses, or a tea-cup of 
brown sugar. 

One teaspoonful of salt, and one teaspoonful of salera- 
tus, dissolved in a little hot water. 

One tea-cup of yeast. 

Mix the above, and stir in enough unbolted wheat 
flour to make it as stiff as you can work with a spoon. 
Some put in enough to mould it to loaves. Try both. 
If made with home-brewed yeast, put it to rise over 
night. If with distillery yeast, make it in the morning, 
and bake when light. 

In loaves the ordinary size, bake one hour and a half. 

Apple Bread. 
Mix stewed and strained apple, or grated apple un- 

9 



OVENS, YEAST, BREAD, AND BISCUIT. 91 

cooked, with an equal quantity of wheat flour ; add 
yeast enough to raise it, and mix sugar with the apple, 
enough to make it quite sweet. Make it in loaves, and 
bake it an hour and a half, like other bread. 

Pumpkin Bread. 

Stew and strain some pumpkin, stiffen it with Indian 
meal, add salt and yeast, and it makes a most excellent 
kind of bread. 

Walnut HilVs Brown Bread. 

One quart of sour milk, and one teaspoonful of salt. 

One teaspoonful of pulverized saleratus, and one tea- 
cup of molasses put into the milk. 

Thicken with unbolted wheat, and bake immediately, 
and you have first-rate bread, with very little trouble. 

French Rolls, or Tivists. 

One quart of lukewarm milk. 

One teaspoonful of salt. 

A large tea-cup of home-brewed yeast, or half as much 
distillery yeast. 

Flour enough to make a stiff* batter. 

Set it to rise, and when very light, work in one egg and 
two spoonfuls of butter, and knead in flour till stiff 
enough to roll. 

Let it rise again, and when very light, roll out, cut in 
strips, and braid it. Bake thirty minutes on buttered 
tins. 

Raised Biscuit. 

Rub half a pound of butter into a pound of flour. 

One beaten egg. 

A teaspoonful of salt. 

Two great spoonfuls of distillery yeast, or twice as 
much home-brewed. 

Wet it up with enough warm milk to make a soft 
dough, and then work in half a pound of butter. When 
light, mould it into round cakes, or roll it out and cut it 
with a tumbler. 



92- OVENS, YEAST, BREAD, AND BISCUIT. 

Very Nice Rusk. 

One pint of milk. 

One coffee-cup of yeast. (Potato is best.) 

Four eggs. 

Flour enough to make it as thick as you can stir with 
a spoon. 

Let it rise till very light, but be sure it is not sour; 
if it is, work in half a teaspoonful of saleratus, dissolved 
in a wine-glass of warm water. 

When thus light, work together three quarters of a 
pound of sugar and nine ounces of butter ; add more 
flour, if needed, to make it stiff enough to mould. Let 
it rise again, and when very light, mould it into small 
cakes. Bake fifteen minutes in a quick oven, and after 
taking it out, mix a little milk and sugar, and brush 
over the rusk, while hot, with a small swab of linen tied 
to a stick, and dry it in the oven. When you have 
weighed these proportions once, then measure the quan- 
tity, so as to save the trouble of weighing afterward. 
Write the measures in your receipt-book, lest you forget. 

Potato Biscuit. 

Twelve pared potatoes, boiled soft and mashed fine, 
and two teaspoonfuls of salt. 

Mix the potatoes and milk, add half a tea-cup of yeast, 
and flour enough to mould them well. Then work 
in a cup of butter. When risen, mould them into small 
cakes, then let them stand in buttered pans fifteen min- 
utes before baking. 

Crackers. 

One quart of flour, with two ounces of butter rubbed in. 

One teaspoonful of saleratus in a wine-glass of warm 
water. 

Half a teaspoonful of salt, and milk enough to roll it 
out. 

Beat it half an hour with a pestle, cut it in thin round 
cakes, prick them, and set them in the oven when other 
things are taken out. Let them bake till crisp. 




OVENS, YEAST, BREAD, AND BISCUIT. 93 

Hard Biscuit. 

One quart of flour, and half a teaspoon ful of salt. 

Four great spoonfuls of butter, rubbed into two-thirds 
of the flour. 

Wet it up with milk till a dough ; roll it out again 
and again, sprinkling on the reserved flour, till all is 
used. Cut into round cakes, and bake in a quick oven 
on buttered tins. 

Sour Milk Biscuit. 

A pint and a half of sour milk, or buttermilk. 

Two teaspoonfuls of salt. 

Two teaspoonfuls of saleratus, dissolved in four great 
spoonfuls of hot water. 

Mix the milk in flour till nearly stiff enough to roll, 
then put in the saleratus, and add more flour. Mould 
up quickly, and bake immediately. 

Shortening for raised biscuit or cake should always be 
worked in after it is wet up. 

A good Way to use Sour Bread. 

When a batch of bread is sour, let it stand till very 
light, and use it to make biscuit for tea or breakfast, 
thus : 

Work into a portion of it, saleratus dissolved in warm 
water, enough to sweeten it, and a little shortening, and 
mould it into small biscuits, bake it, and it is uncom- 
monly good. It is so much liked that some persons allow 
bread to turn sour for the purpose. Bread can be kept 
on hand for this use any length of time. 



04 BREAKFAST AND TEA CAKES. 



CHAPTER XL 

BREAKFAST AND TEA CAKES. 

General Directions for Griddle and other Break- 
fast Cakes. 

The best method of greasing a griddle is, to take a 
bit of salt pork, and rub over with a fork. This pre- 
vents adhesion, and yet does not allow the fat to soak 
into what is to be cooked. 

In putting cakes on to griddles, be careful to form 
them a regular round shape, and put on only one at 
each dip, and so as not to spill between the cakes. 

In frying mush, cold rice slices, and hominy cakes, 
cut them half an inch thick, and fry in fresh lard, with 
enough to brown them handsomely. Make the slices 
smooth and regular. 

Buckwheat Cakes wet ivith Water. 

Take a quart of buckwheat flour, and nearly an even 
tablespoonful of salt. Stir in warm water, till it is the 
consistency of thin batter. Beat it thoroughly. Add 
two tablespoon fuls of yeast, if distillery, or twice as much 
if home-brewed. 

Set the batter where it will be a little warm through 
the night. Some persons never stir them after they have 
risen, but take them out carefully with a large spoon. 

Add a teaspoonful of pearlash in the morning, if they 
are sour. Sift it over the surface, and stir it well. 

Some persons like to add one or two tablespoonfuls of 
molasses, to give them a brown color, and more sweet- 
ness of taste. 

Extempore Buckwheat Cakes. 
Three pints of buckwheat. 



BREAKFAST AND TEA CAKES. 



95 



One teaspoonful carbonate of soda, dissolved in watei 
enough to make a batter, and when mixed, add a tea- 
spoonful of tartaric acid, dissolved in a few spoonfuls of 
hot water. Mix it in, and bake immediately. 

Use salt pork to grease the griddle. 

Buckioheat Cakes ivet with Milk, 

One quart of flour, and in winter stir in lukewarm 
milk, till it is a thin batter, and beat it thoroughly, ad- 
ding nearly an even tablespoonful of salt. 

Add a small tea-cup of Indian meal, two tablespoon- 
fuls of distillery yeast, or a good deal more if home-brew- 
ed ; say half a tea-cup full. Set it where it will keep 
warm all night, and in the morning add a teaspoonful 
of saleratus, sifted over the top, and well stirred in. If 
sour, add more saleratus. This is the best kind of buck- 
wheat cakes. 

Griddle Cakes of Unbolted Wheat. 

A quart of unbolted wheat, and a teaspoonful of salt. 
Wet it up with water, or sweet milk, in which is dis- 
solved a teaspoonful of saleratus. Add three spoonfuls 
of molasses. Some raise this with yeast, and leave out 
the saleratus. Sour milk and saleratus are not as good 
for unbolted as for fine flour. 

These are better and more healthful cakes than 
buckwheat. 

Best Rice Griddle Cakes. 

A pint and a half of solid cold boiled rice, put the 
night before in a pint of water or milk to soak. 

One quart of milk, added the next morning. 

One quart of flour stirred into the rice and milk. 

Two eggs, well beaten. 

Half a teaspoonful of saleratus, dissolved in a little hot 
water. 

One teaspoonful of salt. Bake on a griddle. 

Stale, or rusked bread in fine crumbs, are very nice 
made into griddle cakes by the above rule ; or they can 



98 BREAKFAST AND TEA CAKES. 

be mixed with the rice. The rice must be well salted 
when boiled. 

A very delicate Omelet. 

Six eggs, the whites beaten to a stiff froth, and the 
yolks well beaten. 

A tea-cup full of warm milk, with a tablespoonful of 
butter melted in it. 

A tablespoonful of flour, wet to a paste with a little 
of the milk and poured to the milk. 

A teaspoonful of salt, and a little pepper. 

Mix all except the whites ; add those last ; bake im- 
mediately, in a flat pan, or spider, on coals, and when 
the bottom is done, raise it up towards the fire, and bake 
the top, or cover with an iron sheet, and put coals on it. 
The remnants of ham, cut fine and added, improve 
this. Some like sweet herbs added, and some fine-cut 
onion. 

Wheat Waffles. 

One quart of flour, and a teaspoonful of salt. 

One quart of milk, with s ^olespoonful of melted but- 
ter in it, and mixed with mc flour gradually, so as not 
to have lumps. 

Three tablespoonfuls of distillery yeast. When rais- 
ed, two well-beaten eggs. 

Bake in waffle irons well oiled w T ith lard each time 
they are used. Lay one side on coals, and in about two 
minutes turn the other side to the coals. 

Miss Bis Waffles {without yeast). 

One quart of flour, and a teaspoonful of salt. 

One quart of sour milk, with two tablespoonfuls of 
butter melted in it. 

Five well-beaten eggs. A teaspoonful or more of sal- 
eratus, enough to sweeten the milk. Baked in waffle 
irons. 

Some like one tea-cup full of sugar added. 

Rice Waffles. 
A quart of milk. 



BREAKFAST AND TEA CAKES. 97 

A tea-cup of solid boiled rice, soaked three hours in 
half the milk. 

A pint and a half of wheat flour, or rice flour. 
Three well-beaten eggs. Bake in waffle irons. 
The rice must be salted enough when boiled. 

Good Cakes for Tea, or Breakfast. * 

One pint of milk, and a salt spoonful of salt. 

One teaspoonful of molasses, and a great spoonful of 
butter. 

One egg well beaten, and two tablespoonfuls of dis- 
tillery yeast, or twice as much home-brewed. 

Stir the ingredients into flour enough to make a stiff 
batter. 

Let it rise all night, or if for tea, about five hours. 
Add a salt spoonful of saleratus just before baking it, dis- 
solved in warm water. 

Bake in shallow pans, in a quick oven, half an hour. 

Fried Rice for Breakfast. 

Boil the rice quite soft the day before, so that it will 
adhere well. For breakfast, cut it in slices an inch thick, 
cook it on a griddle, with enough sweet lard to fry it 
brown. Cold mush is good in the same way. 

It must be salted properly when boiling. 

Fried Hominy. 

When cold hominy is left of the previous day, it is very 
good wet up with an egg and a little flour, and fried. 

Rye Drop Cake (excellent). 

One pint of milk, and three eggs. 
A tablespoonful of sugar, and a salt spoonful of salt. 
Stir in rye flour, till about the consistency of pancakes. 
Bake in buttered cups, or saucers, half an hour. 

Wheat Drop Cake. 

One pint of milk, and a little cream. 
Three eggs, and a salt spoonful of salt. 



98 BREAKFAST AND TEA CAKES. 

With these materials make a thick batter of wheat 
flour, or unbolted flour. Drop on tins, and bake about 
twenty minutes. If unbolted flour is used, add a great 
spoonful of molasses. 

Corn Griddle Cakes with Yeast. 

Three coffee-cups of Indian meal, sifted. 

One coffee-cup of either rye meal, Graham flour, or 
fine flour. 

Two tablespoonfuls of yeast, and a salt spoonful of 
salt. 

Wet at night with sour milk or water, as thick as pan- 
cakes, and in the morning add one teaspoonful of pearl- 
ash. 

Bake on a griddle. If Graham flour is used, add a 
very little molasses. 

Pilgrim Cake. 

Rub two spoonfuls of butter into a quart of flour, and 
wet it to dough with cold water. Rake open a place 
in the hottest part of the hearth, roll out the dough into 
a cake an inch thick, flour it well both sides, and lay 
it on hot ashes. Cover it with hot ashes, and then 
with coals. When cooked, wipe off the ashes, and it 
will be very sweet and good. 

The Kentucky corn cake, and common dough, can 
be baked the same way. This method was used by 
our pilgrim and pioneer forefathers. 

Sour Milk Corn Cake. 

One quart of sour milk, or buttermilk. 

A large teaspoonful of pearlash. 

A teaspoonful of salt. 

Stir the milk into the meal enough to make a stiff bat- 
ter, over night. In the morning dissolve the pearlash in 
warm water. Stir it up quickly, and bake it in shallow 
pans. 

If the milk is sweet, it should be made sour by adding 
to it a tablespoonful of vinegar. 



BREAKFAST AND TEA CAKES. 99 

Com Muffins (fro?n the South). 

One pint of sifted meal, and half a teaspoonful of salt. 

Two tablespoonfuls of melted lard. 

A teaspoonful of saleratus, in two great spoonfuls of 
hot water. 

Wet the above with sour milk, as thick as for mush or 
hasty pudding, and bake in buttered rings on a buttered 
tin. 

Corn Griddle Cakes with Eggs. 

Turn one quart of boiling milk, or water, on to a pint 
of Indian meal. 

When lukewarm, add three tablespoonfuls of flour, 
three eggs well beaten, and a teaspoonful of salt. Bake 
on a griddle. 

Sachem's Head Corn Cake. 

One quart sifted Indian meal, and a teaspoonful of 
salt. 

Three pints of scalded milk cooled, and a teaspoonful 
of saleratus, dissolved in two spoonfuls of hot water, and 
put into it. 

Beat eight eggs, and mix all together. Bake one 
hour in pans, like sponge cake. 

It looks, when broken, like sponge cake, and is very 
fine. If the whites are cut to a froth, and put in, just as it 
goes to bake, it improves it very much. Some think 
this improved by adding a tea-cup of sugar. Much de- 
pends on the baking, and if you fail, it is probably 
owing to the baking. 

Royal Crumpets. 

Three tea-cups of raised dough. 

Four great spoonfuls of melted butter, worked into the 
dough. 

Three well-beaten eggs. 

One tea-cup of rolled sugar, beaten into the eggs. 
Turn it into buttered pans, and bake twenty minutes. 
Some like them better without the sugar. 



100 BREAKFAST AND TEA CAKES. 

Bachelor's Corn Cake. 

A pint of sifted corn meal, and a teaspoonful of salt. 

Two spoonfuls of butter, and a quarter of a cup of 
cream. 

Two eggs well beaten. 

Add milk, till it is a thin fritter batter, and bake in 
deep tin pans. Beat it well, and bake with a quick 
heat, and it rises like pound cake. 

Mrs. W.s Corn Cake. 

One pint of milk, and one pint of cream. 

Two eggs, well beaten, and a teaspoonful of salt. 

A teaspoonful of saleratus, dissolved in a little hot 
water. 

Indian meal, enough to make a thick batter. 

Throw the salt into the meal. Then stir in the milk 
and cream slowly. Beat the eggs, and add them. Add 
the saleratus last. Bake it one hour in shallow pans, 
well buttered. 

Corn Muffins. 

One quart of Indian meal, sifted. 

A heaping spoonful of butter. 

One quart of milk, and a salt spoonful of salt. 

Two tablespoonfuls of distillery yeast, and one of mo- 
lasses. 

Let it rise four or five hours. Bake in muffin rings. 

The same will answer to bake in shallow pans, like 
corn cake. Bake one hour. 

Graham, or unbolted flour, is good made by this re- 
ceipt. 

Savoy Biscuit. 

Beat six eggs into one pound of sugar, until white. 
Grate the outside of a lemon into it, mix in three quar- 
ters of a pound of flour, and drop them on buttered paper, 
a spoonful at a time. 

Cream Cakes. 
One quart of cream. 



BREAKFAST AND TEA CAKES. 101 

One quart of sifted flour. 
One salt spoon of salt. 

A wine-glass of distillery yeast, or twice as much 
home-brewed. 

When quite light, bake in cups, or muffin rings. 

Wheat Muffins. 

One pint of milk, and two eggs. 

One tablespoonful of yeast, and a salt spoonful of salt. 

Mix these ingredients with sufficient flour to make a 
thick batter. Let it rise four or five hours, and bake in 
muffin rings. This can be made of unbolted flour, ad- 
ding two great spoonfuls of molasses, and it is very fine. 

Albany Brea.kfast Cakes. 

Ten well-beaten eggs. 

Three pints of milk, blood warm. 

A quarter of a pound of melted butter, and two tea- 
spoonfuls of salt. 

A teaspoonful of saleratus, dissolved in a spoonful 
of hot water. 

Make a thick batter with white Indian meal, and 
bake in buttered tins, an inch thick when put in. Bake 
thirty or forty minutes, in a quick oven. 

Sally Lunn. 

Seven cups of sifted flour. 

Half a tea-cup of butter, warmed in a pint of milk. 

One salt spoonful of salt, and three well-beaten eggs. 

Two tablespoonfuls brewer's yeast. If the yeast is 
home-made, use twice as much. 

Pour this into square pans, to rise, and then bake it 
before it sours. 

With brewer's, or distillery yeast, it will rise in two or 
three hours, and must not be made over night. With 
home-brewed yeast, it rises in four or five hours. 

Cream Tea Cakes. 

One quart of flour, and a teaspoonful of salt. 

9* 



102 BREAKFAST AND TEA CAKES. 

One pint of sour cream, and half a tea-cup of melted 
butter. 

Half a teaspoonful of saleratus, in a spoonful of hot 
water. 

Mix lightly in dough, to mould in small cakes and 
bake in buttered tins. 

Buttermilk Short Cakes. 

Two quarts of flour, and a teaspoonful of salt. 

Rub in two tea-cups full of soft butter, or lard, or beef 
drippings. 

Work it up into a paste, with sour milk or butter- 
milk, and add a heaping teaspoonful of saleratus, dis- 
solved in a spoonful of hot water. 

Make a soft dough, and mould it into cakes, and bake 
it in buttered tins. If the shortening is fresh, add an- 
other teaspoonful of salt. 

Wafers. 

Two tablespoon fuls of rolled white sugar. 

Two tablespoonfuls of butter. 

One coffee-cup of flour, and essence of lemon, or rose 
water to flavor. 

Add milk enough for a thick batter, bake in wafer 
irons, buttered, and then strew on white sugar. 

Pennsylvania Flannel Cakes. 

One quart of milk, and half a teaspoonful of salt. 

Three eggs, the whites beaten separately to a stiff 
froth. 

Mix the milk, salt, and yolks, stir in flour till a bat- 
ter is made, suitable for griddle cakes. Then, when 
ready to bake, stir in the whites. 

Rye flour is very fine, used in this way, instead of 
wheat, but the cakes adhere so much that it is difficult 
to bake them. Many love them much better than the 
wheat. 

Kentucky Corn Dodgers. 

Three pints of unsifted yellow corn meal. 



BREAKFAST AND TEA CAKES. 103 

One tablespoonful (heaped) of lard. 
One pint of milk. 

Work it well, and bake in cakes the size of the hand, 
and an inch thick. 

Ohio Corn Cake. 

One pint of thick sour cream, and one quart of milk, 
or buttermilk. If cream cannot be got, add a table- 
spoonful of melted lard, or butter. 

Dissolve enough saleratus in the above to sweeten it, 
and thicken with yellow corn meal to the consistency of 
pound cake. Put it in buttered pans, an inch thick, and 
bake in a quick oven. 

Scarborough P tiffs. 

Take one pint of new milk, and boil it. Take out 
one cup full, and stir into it flour enough to make a thick 
batter. Pour this into the boiling milk. Stir and boil 
until the whole is thick enough to hold a silver spoon 
standing upright. Then take it from the fire, and stir 
in six eggs, one by one. Add a teaspoonful of salt, and 
less than a tablespoonful of butter. Drop them by the 
spoonful into boiling lard, and fry like doughnuts. 
Grate on the outside sugar and spice. — (Maine Receipt.) 

Cream Griddle Cakes. 

One pint of thick cream, and a pint of milk. 

Three eggs, and a teaspoonful of salt. 

Make a batter of fine flour, and bake on a griddle. 

Crumpets. 

A quart of warm milk, and a teaspoonful of salt. 

Half a gill of distillery yeast, and flour enough for a 
batter, not very stiff. 

When light, add half a cup of melted butter, or a cup 
of rich cream, let it stand twenty minutes, and then bake 
it as muffins, or in cups. 



104 PLAIN PUDDINGS AND PIES. 

Fine Cottage Cheese. 

Let the milk be turned by rennet, or by setting it in 
a warm place. It must not be heated, as the oily parts 
will then pass off, and the richness is lost. When fully 
turned, put it in a coarse linen bag, and hang it to 
drain several hours, till all the whey is out. Then mash 
it fine, salt it to the taste, and thin it with good cream, 
or add but little cream and roll it into balls. When thin, 
it is very fine with preserves or sugared fruit. 

It also makes a fine pudding, by thinning it with 
milk, and adding eggs and sugar, and spice to the taste, 
and baking it. Many persons use milk when turned 
for a dessert, putting on sugar and spice. Children are 
fond of it. 



CHAPTER XII. 

PLAIN PUDDINGS AND PIES. 

General Directions in regard to Puddings and 
Custards. 

Make pudding-bags of thick close sheeting, to shut 
out the water. Before putting in the pudding, put the 
bag in water, and wring it out, then flour the inside 
thoroughly. In tying it, leave room to swell ; flour and 
Indian need a good deal, and are hard and heavy if 
cramped. 

Put an old plate in the bottom of the pot, to keep the 
bag from burning to the pot. Turn the pudding after it 
has been in five minutes, to keep the heavy parts from 
settling. Keep the pudding covered with water, and do 
not let it stop boiling, as this will tend to make it water 
soaked. Fill up with boiling water, as cold would spoil 
the pudding. Dip the bag a moment in cold water, just 
before turning out the pudding. 



PLAIN PUDDINGS AND PIES. 105 

Avoid stale eggs. When eggs are used, the whites 
should be beat separately, and put in the last thing. In 
many cases, success depends upon this. Never put eggs 
into very hot milk, as it will poach them. Wash the 
salt out of butter used to butter pans, as otherwise it im- 
parts a bad taste to the outside. 

Put almonds in hot water till you are ready to blanch, 
or skin them, and put orange, or rose water with them 
when you pound them, to prevent adhesion. Boil cus- 
tards in a vessel set in boiling water. 

Little Girl's Pie. 

Take a deep dish, the size of a soup plate, fill it, heap- 
ing, with peeled tart apples, cored and quartered ; pour 
over it one tea-cup of molasses, and three great spoon- 
fuls of sugar, dredge over this a considerable quantity of 
flour, enough to thicken the syrup a good deal. Cover 
it with a crust made of cream, if you have it, if not, com- 
mon dough, with butter worked in, or plain pie crust, 
and lap the edge over the dish, and pinch it down tight, 
to keep the syrup from running out. Bake about an 
hour and a half. Make several at once, as they keep 
well. 

Little Boy's Pudding. 

One tea-cup of rice. 

One tea-cup of sugar. 

One half tea-cup of butter. 

One quart of milk. 

Nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt to the taste. 

Put the butter in melted, and mix all in a pudding 
dish, and bake it two hours, stirring it frequently, until 
the rice is swollen. 

This is good made without butter. 

Children's Fruit Du?npling. 

Invert a plate in a preserve kettle, or an iron or brass 
kettle. Put in a quart or more of sliced apples or pears. 
Put in no water or sugar, but simply roll out some com- 



108 PLAIN PUDDINGS AND PIES. 

mon dough an inch thick, and just large enough to cov- 
.er them, and hang it over the fire fifteen or twenty min- 
utes. When the fruit is cooked the dough will have 
risen to a fine puff, and also be cooked. There must 
not be any thing laid on the top of the dough to prevent 
it from rising, but the kettle may be covered. When it is 
done, take off the dough cover, with a fork and skimmer, 
put it on to a plate, pour the fruit into a round dish, put 
the cover on, and eat it with a sweet sauce. It is more 
healthful, and much better than dumplings boiled the 
common way. 

Birth-day Pudding. 

Butter a deep dish, and lay in slices of bread and but- 
ter, wet with milk, and upon these sliced tart apples, 
sweetened and spiced. Then lay on another layer of 
bread and butter and apples, and continue thus till the 
dish is filled. Let the top layer be bread and butter, 
and dip it in milk, turning the buttered side down. Any 
other kind of fruit will answer as well. Put a plate on 
the top, and bake two hours, then take it off and bake 
another hour. 

Children's Boiled Fruit Pudding. 

Take light dough and work in a little butter, roll it out 
into a very thin large layer, not a quarter of an inch 
thick. Cover it thick with strawberries, and put on 
sugar, roll it up tight, double it once or twice and fasten 
up the ends. Tie it up in a bag, giving it room to 
swell. Eat it with butter, or sauce not very sweet. 

Blackberries, whortleberries, raspberries, apples, and 
peaches, all make excellent puddings in the same way. 

English Curd Pie. 

One quart of milk. 

A bit of rennet to curdle it. 

Press out the whey, and put into the curds three eggs, 
a nutmeg, and a tablespoonful of brandy. Bake it in 
paste, like custard. 



PLAIN PUDDINGS AND PIES. 107 

Fruit Fritters, 

A pint of milk. 

A pint and a half of flour. 

Two teaspoonfuls of salt. 

Six eggs, and a pint of cream if you have it ; if not, 
a pint of milk with a little butter melted in it. 

Mix with this, either blackberries, raspberries, currants, 
gooseberries, or sliced apples or peaches, and fry it in 
small cakes in sweet lard. Eat with a sauce of butter 
beat with sugar, and flavored with wine or nutmeg, or 
grated lemon peel. 

Common Apple Pie. 

Pare your apples, and cut them from the core. Line 
your dishes with paste, and put in the apple ; cover and 
bake until the fruit is tender. Then take them from the 
oven, remove the upper crust, and put in sugar and nut- 
meg, cinnamon or rose water to your taste ; a bit of 
sweet butter improves them. Also, to put in a little orange 
peel before they are baked, makes a pleasant variety. 
Common apple pies are very good to stew, sweeten, and 
flavor the apple before they are put into the oven. Many 
prefer the seasoning baked in. All apple pies are much 
nicer if the apple is grated and then seasoned. 

Plain Custard. 

Boil half a dozen peach leaves, or the rind of a lemon, 
or a vanilla bean in a quart of milk ; w T hen it is flavor- 
ed, pour into it a paste made by a tablespoonful of rice 
flour, or common flour, wet up with two spoonfuls of 
cold milk, and stir it till it boils again. Then beat up 
four eggs and put in, and sweeten it to your taste, and 
pour it out for pies or pudding. 

A Richer Custard. 

Beat to a froth six eggs and three spoonfuls sifted 
sugar, add it to a quart of milk, flavor it to your taste, 
and pour it out into cups, or pie plates. 



108 PLAIN PUDDINGS AND PIES. 

Another Custard. 

Boil six peach leaves, or a lemon peel, in a quart of 
milk, till k is flavored ; cool it, add three spoonfuls of 
sugar, and five eggs beaten to a froth. Put the custard 
into a tin pail, set it in boiling water, and stir it till cook- 
ed enough. Then turn it into cups, or, if preferred, it 
can be baked. 

Mush, or Hasty Pudding. 

Wet up the Indian meal in cold water, till there are 
no lumps, stir it gradually into boiling water which has 
been salted, till so thick that the stick will stand in it. 
Boil slowly, and so as not to burn, stirring often. Two 
or three hours' boiling is needed. Pour it into a broad, 
deep dish, let it grow cold, cut it into slices half an inch 
thick, flour them, and fry them on a griddle with a little 
lard, or bake them in a stove oven. 

Stale Bread Flutters (fine). 

Cut stale bread in thick slices, and put it to soak for 
several hours in cold milk. 

Then fry it in sweet lard, and eat it with sugar, or 
molasses, or a sweet sauce. To make it more delicate, 
take off the crusts. 

To prepare Rennet. 

Put three inches square of calfs rennet to a pint of 
wine, and set it away for use. Three tablespoonfuls 
will serve to curdle a quart of milk. 

Rennet Custard. 

Put three tablespoonfuls of rennet wine to a quart of 
milk, and add four or five great spoonfuls of white sugar, 
flavor it with wine, or lemon, or rose water. It must be 
eaten in an hour or it will turn to curds. 

Bird's Nest Pudding. 
Pare tart, well-flavored apples, scoop out the cores 



PLAIN PUDDINGS AND PIES. 109 

without dividing the apple, put them in a deep dish with 
a small bit of mace, and a spoonful of sugar in the open- 
ing of each apple. Pour in water enough to cook them ; 
when soft, pour over them an unbaked custard, so as 
just to cover them, and bake till the custard is done. 

A Minute Pudding of Potato Starch. 

Four heaped tablespoonfuls of potato flour. 

Three eggs, and half a teaspoonful of salt. 

One quart of milk. 

Boil the milk, reserving a little to moisten the flour. 
Stir the flour to a paste, perfectly smooth, with the re- 
served milk, and put it into the boiling milk. Add the 
eggs well beaten, let it boil till very thick, which will be 
in two or three minutes, then pour into a dish and serve 
with liquid sauce. After the milk boils, the pudding 
must be stirred every moment till done. 

Tapioca Pudding, 

Soak eight tablespoonfuls of tapioca in a quart of warm 
milk till soft, then add two tablespoonfuls of melted but- 
ter, five eggs well beaten, spice, sugar, and wine to your 
taste. Bake in a buttered dish, without any lining. 

Sago Pudding. 

Cleanse the sago in hot water, and boil half a pound 
in a quart of milk with a stick of mace or cinnamon, 
stirring very often, lest it burn. When soft, take out 
the spice and add half a cup of melted butter, four heap- 
ing spoonfuls of sugar, six eggs, and, if you like, some 
Zante currants, strewed on just as it is going into the 
oven. 

Cocoanut Pudding (Plain). 

One quart of milk. 
Five eggs. 

One cocoanut, grated. 

The eggs and sugar are beaten together, and stirred 

10 



110 PLAIN PUDDINGS AND PIES. 

into the milk when hot. Strain the milk and eggs, and 
add the cocoanut, with nutmeg to the taste. Bake 
about twenty ninutes like puddings. 

New England Squash, or Pumpkin Pie. 

Take a pumpkin, or winter squash, cut in pieces, take 
off the rind and remove the seeds, and boil it until tender, 
then rub it through a sieve. When cold, add to it milk 
to thin it, and to each quart of milk three well-beaten 
eggs. Sugar, cinnamon, and ginger to your taste. The 
quantity of milk must depend upon the size and quality 
of the squash. 

These pies require a moderate heat, and must be 
baked until the centre is firm. 

Ripe Fruit Pies. 

Peach, Cherry, Plum, Currant, and Strawberry. 
— Line your dish with paste. After picking over and 
washing the fruit carefully (peaches must be pared, and 
the rest picked from the stem), place a layer of fruit and 
a layer of sugar in your dish, until it is well filled, then 
cover it with paste, and trim the edge neatly, and prick 
the cover. Fruit pies require about an hour to bake in 
a thoroughly heated oven. 

Batter Pudding. 

One quart of milk. 

Twelve tablespoonfuls of flour. 

Nine eggs. 

A teaspoonful of salt. 

Beat the yolks thoroughly, stir in the flour, and add 
the milk slowly. Beat the whites of the eggs to a froth 
and add the last thing. Tie in a floured bag, and put 
it in boiling water, and boil two hours. Allow room to 
swell. 

Mock Cream. 

Beat three eggs well, and add three heaping teaspoon- 
fuls of sifted flour. Stir it into a pint and a half of boil- 



PLAIN PUDDINGS AND PIES. Ill 

ing milk, add a salt spoon of salt, and sugar to your 
taste. Flavor with rose water, or essence of lemon. 
This can be used for cream cakes, or pastry. 

Bread Pudding. 

Three pints of boiled milk. 

Eleven ounces of grated bread. 

Half a pound of sugar. 

A quarter of a pound of butter. 

Five eggs. 

Pour the boiling milk over the bread, stir the butter 
and sugar well together, and put them into the bread 
and milk. When cool enough, add the eggs, well beaten. 
Three quarters of an hour will bake it. 

A richer pudding may be made from the above recipe 
by using twice as much butter and eggs. 

Sunderland Pudding, 

Six eggs. 

Three spoonfuls of flour. 

One pint of milk. A pinch of salt. 

Beat the yolks well, and mix them smoothly with the 
flour, then add the milk. Lastly, whip the whites to a 
stiff froth, work them in, and bake immediately. 

To be eaten with a liquid sauce. 

An Excellent Apple Pie. 

Take fair apples ; pare, core, and quarter them. 

Take four tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar to a pie. 

Put into a preserving pan, with the sugar, water 
enough to make a thin syrup ; throw in a few blades of 
mace, boil the apple in the syrup until tender, a little at 
a time, so as not to break the pieces. Take them out 
with care, and lay them in soup dishes. 

When you have preserved apple enough for your num- 
ber of pies, add to the remainder of the syrup, cinnamon 
and rose water, or any other spice, enough to flavor it 
well, and divide it among the pies. Make a good paste, 
and line the rim of the dishes, and then cover them, leaving 



112 PLAIN PUDDINGS AND PIES. 

the pies without an under crust. Bake them a light 
brown. 

Boiled Apple Pudding, 

One quarter of a pound of butter. 

One pound of flour. 

Two dozen apples. 

Make a plain paste of the flour and butter. Sprinkle 
your pudding-bag with flour, roll the paste thin, and lay 
inside of the bag, and fill the crust with apples nicely 
pared and cored. Draw the crust together, and cut off 
any extra paste about the folds ; tie the bag tight, and 
put it into boiling water. Boil it two hours. A layer 
of rice, nicely picked and washed, sprinkled inside the 
bag, instead of crust, makes a very good pudding, called 
an Avalanche. 

Common dough rolled out makes a fine crust for the 
above, especially with a little butter worked in it. It is 
more healthful than the unleavened crust. 

Spiced Apple Tarts. 

Rub stewed or baked apples through a sieve, sweeten 
them, and add powdered mace and cinnamon enough to 
flavor them. If the apples are not very tart, squeeze in 
the juice of a lemon. Some persons like the peel of the 
lemon grated into it. Line soup dishes with a light crust, 
double on the rim, and fill them and bake them until the 
crust is done. Little bars of crust, a quarter of an inch 
in width, crossed on the top of the tart before it is baked, 
is ornamental. 

Boiled Indian Pudding. 

Three pints of milk. 

Ten heaping tablespoonfuls of sifted Indian meal. 

Half a pint of molasses. 

Two eggs. 

Scald the meal with the milk : add the molasses, and 
a teaspoonful of salt. Put in the eggs when it is cool 
enough not to scald them. Put in a tablespoonful of 



PLAIN PUDDINGS AND PIES. 113 

ginger. Tie the bag so that it will be about two-thirds 
full of the pudding, in order to give room to swell. The 
longer it is boiled the better. Some like a little chopped 
suet with the above. 



Baked Indian Puddin 



'«& ■ 



Three pints of milk. 

Ten heaping tablespoonfuls of Indian meal. 

Three gills of molasses. 

A piece of butter, as large as a hen's egg. 

Scald the meal with the milk, and stir in the butter 
and molasses, and bake four or five hours. Some add a 
little chopped suet in place of the butter. 

Rice Balls, or German Pudding. 

Two tea-cups of rice. 

One quart of milk. 

Four ounces of sugar. 

One wine-glass of wine. 

Spice to the taste. 

Wash the rice carefully, and throw it in a pan of boil- 
ing salted water. Let it boil very fast seventeen min- 
utes, then pour off the water, and in its place put one- 
third of the milk, and a stick of cinnamon. Let it boil 
till it is as thick as very stiff hasty pudding, then put in 
half the sugar ; fill small tea-cups with this rice, and set 
them to cool. When cool, turn out the rice on to a 
large dish, pour over it a syllabub (not whipped), made of 
the remaining milk and sugar, with the wine. It is 
still better made with a syllabub of rich cream, and 
whipped. 

Apple Custard. 

Take half a dozen very tart apples, and take off the 
skin and cores. Cook them till they begin to be soft, in 
half a tea-cup of water. Then put them in a pudding 
dish, and sugar them. Then beat eight eggs with four 
spoonfuls of sugar, mix it with three pints of milk ; pour 
it over the apples, and bake for about half an hour. 

10* 



114 PLAIN PUDDINGS AND PIES. 

Rhubarb Pie. 

Cut the stalks of the rhubarb into small pieces, and 
stew them with some lemon peel till tender. Strain 
them, sweeten to your taste, and add as many eggs as 
you can afford. Line pie plates with paste, and bake it 
like tarts, without upper crust. 

Plain Macaroni or Vermacelli Puddings. 

Put two ounces of macaroni, or vermacelli, into a pint 
of milk, and simmer until tender. Flavor it by putting 
in two or three sticks of cinnamon while boiling, or some 
other spice when done. Then beat up three eggs, mix 
in an ounce of sugar, half a pint of milk, and a glass 
of wine. Add these to the macaroni or vermacelli, and 
bake in a slow oven. 

Green Corn Pudding. 

Twelve ears of corn, grated. Sweet corn is best. 
One pint and a half of milk. 
Four well-beaten eggs. 
One tea-cup and a half of sugar. 
Mix the above, and bake it three hours in a buttered 
dish. More sugar is needed if common corn is used. 

Bread Pudding for Invalids, or Young Children. 

Grate half a pound of stale bread, add a pinch of salt, 
and pour on a pint of hot milk, and let it soak half 
an hour. Add two well-beaten eggs, put it in a covered 
basin just large enough to hold it, tie it in a pudding 
cloth, and boil it half an hour ; or put it in a buttered pan 
in an oven, and bake it that time. Make a sauce of 
thin sweet cream, sweetened with sugar, and flavored 
with rose water or nutmeg. 

Plain Rice Pudding, without Eggs. 

Mix half a pint of rice into a quart of rich milk, or 
cream and milk. Add half a pint of sugar and nutmeg, 



PLAIN PUDDINGS AND PIES. 115 

and powdered cinnamon. Bake it two hours or more, 
till the rice is quite soft. It is good cold. 

Another Sago Pudding. 

Six tablespoonfuls of sago, soaked two hours in cold 
water, and then boiled soft in a quart of milk. Add four 
spoonfuls of butter, and twenty spoonfuls of sugar beat- 
en into the yolks of six or eight eggs. Add currants or 
chopped raisins dredged with flour, and nutmeg, and cin- 
namon, or a grated lemon peel and juice. Bake it in a 
buttered dish three quarters of an hour. It is good 
cold. 



Note. — All custards are much improved by a little 
salt, say a small half teaspoonful to a quart of milk. 
In all the preceding receipts, where no butter is used, a 
little salt must be put in, say a small half teaspoonful 
to each quart. Many puddings are greatly injured by 
neglecting it. 

Oat Meal Mush. 

This is made just like Indian mush, and is called 
Bourgoo. 

Modes of Preparing Apples for the Table. 

Pippins are the best apples for cooking. 

1. Put them in a tin pan, and bake them in a reflect- 
or or stove, or range oven, or a Dutch oven. Try them 
with a fork, and when done, put them on a dish, and 
if sour fruit, grate white sugar over them. Sweet ones 
need to bake much longer than sour. Serve them in a 
saucer with cream, or a thin custard. 

2. Take tart and large apples, and peel them ; take 
the cores out with an apple corer, put them in a tin, and 
fill the openings with sugar, and a small bit of orange or 
lemon peel, or a bit of cinnamon. Scatter sugar over 
the top, and bake till done, but not till they lose their 
shape. Try with a fork. 



116 PLAIN PUDDINGS AND PIES. 

3. Peel large tart apples, and take out the cores with the 
apple corer. Put them in a Dutch oven, or preserving 
kettle, and simmer them till cooked through. Then 
take them out and put into the kettle a pint of the wa- 
ter in which they were boiled, and beat the white of an 
egg and stir in. Then throw in three or four cups of nice 
brown sugar, and let it boil up, and skim it till clear. 
Then put in the apples, and let them boil up for five 
minutes or more. Then put them in a dish for tea, and 
serve with cream if you have it ; if not, take a pint or 
pint and a half of rich milk in a sauce-pan, and beat up 
two eggs, and stir in and cook it in a tin pail in boiling 
water, and serve it like cream to eat with the apple. 

4. Peel large lart apples, put them in a tin pan with 
sugar in the openings, and bits of lemon or orange peel, 
or cinnamon, to flavor and scatter sugar over. Bake till 
soft, then put them in a dish, and pour over them a cus- 
tard made of four eggs and a quart of milk. 

5. Peel tart apples, and grate them in a dish, and 
grate in as much stale bread. Beat up two eggs in a 
pint or pint and a half of milk, and make it quite sweet, 
and flavor with rose water, or grated lemon, or orange 
peel, and pour it in and mix it well. Then bake it, and 
eat it either as a pudding for dinner, or as an article for 
the tea-table, to be eaten cold and with cream. If you 
have quinces, grate in one-third quince, and add more 
sugar, and it is a great improvement. Various berries 
can be stewed and mixed with bread crumbs, and cook- 
ed in this way. 

6. Peel apples (or prepare any other fruit), and put them 
in layers in a stone or earthen jar with a small mouth. 
Intermix quinces if you have them. Scatter sugar be- 
tween each layer in abundance. Cover the mouth with 
wheat dough, and set the jar in with the bread, and let 
it remain all night, and it makes a most healthful and 
delicious dish. Some place raw rice in alternate layers 
with the fruit. Children are very fond of this dish thus 
prepared with rice, and it is very little trouble, and no- 
thing can be more healthful. 

7. Peel and core apples (or take peaches, or pears, or 



PLAIN PUDDINGS AND PIES. 117 

damsons), and allow half a pound of sugar to a pound of 
fruit. Clarify the sugar, by adding water and the beaten 
white of an egg^ and stirring and skimming it. Boil the 
fruit in the syrup all day very slowly, mashing and stir- 
ring often, till it is a thick, smooth paste. If it has skins 
in it, it must be strained through a colander. Put it in 
buttered pans to cool. Then lay it in a dry, cool place. 
It can be cut in slices for the tea-table. Quinces make 
the best. Apples, with the juice and some of the peel of 
lemons or oranges, are fine. This is called Fruit Cheese, 

8. Boil down new sweet cider to one half the original 
quantity. Stew peeled and cored apples, with one quar- 
ter as many quinces, in this cider, till it is a very dark 
color. If well boiled, it will keep a year in jars, and 
is called Apple Butter. 

9. The following mode of cooking dried fruits is the 
best. Take dried peaches, quinces, or apples, and put 
them to swell in cold water for several hours. Peaches 
must be very thoroughly washed. Then put them into 
a stewing kettle, with a great deal of water, and a pint 
of brown sugar to each pound of fruit. Cover them, and 
let them simmer very slowly for several hours, till the 
water is boiled down to as much liquid as you wish. 

Peaches have a finer flavor when dried with the skin 
on, as fully ripe peaches cannot be pared and dried. 
"When finely flavored, peaches have a solid pulp ; when 
ripe they should be pared and then dried, and such are 
much the best for cooking in the above way. 

They will, when cooked thus, be preferred by every 
body to the finest and most expensive sweetmeats. 

10. The following is the best and cheapest method of 
making the finest Apple Jelly. Grapes and damsons 
can be made the same way. 

Take the best pippins, and wipe them, taking out 
stem and eye. Cut them in thin slices, without paring 
or quartering, as the chief flavor is in the peel, and the 
jelly part is in the cores. 

Put them in a preserving kettle, and put in just water 
enough to cover them, and boil them very soft. Then 
mash and strain through a jelly-bag made of coarse flan- 



118 PLAIN PUDDINGS AND PIES. 

nel. Put the liquid into the kettle, with a pint of brown 
sugar to each pint of the liquid, and add the juice and 
rind of a lemon cut in slices. Beat up the white of one 
egg, and stir in very thoroughly. Boil up three times, 
throwing in some cold water to stop it from running over. 
Then let it stand quiet on the hearth half an hour. 
Try it, and if not hard enough, let it boil till it will turn 
to jelly on cooling. Then skim off the scum, and pour 
off the clear jelly, and strain the sediment through the 
jelly-bag. Then put it in glasses. It can be boiled 
down, and make elegant apple candy. 

Grapes and damsons should have water put in when 
first boiled, as the flavor is thus more perfectly extracted. 
Frost grapes make an elegant jelly, as do the wild 
plum, by this method. In summer these jellies are fine 
for effervescing drinks, with some good wine vinegar 
mixed with them. 

Fruit Custards. 

A pint and a half of fruit stewed and strained, cooled 
and sweetened. 

Six eggs well beaten, and stirred into a quart of milk. 

Mix the above and flavor with spice, and bake in cups 
or a deep dish twenty minutes, or half an hour, accord- 
ing to the size. It is good cold. 

It may be boiled in a tin pail in boiling water. 

Modes of preparing Rice for the Dinner or Tea 

Table. 

Pick over and wash the rice, and boil it fifteen min- 
utes in water with salt in it. Rice is very poor unless 
the salt is cooked into it. Then pour off the water, and 
pour in good rich milk, and let it simmer slowly till the 
rice is soft. There should be milk just sufficient to make 
the rice of a puddijig consistency, so that it can be put in 
cups and turned out without losing its form. 

1. Fill a tea-cup with this rice, and invert it in a platter 
or shallow large pudding dish, and fill the dish with cups 
of rice inverted. On the summit of each mound thus 
made, make an opening with a teaspoon, and lay a pile 



PLAIN PUDDINGS AND PIES. 119 

of jelly or sweetmeats. Then pour into the dish a cus- 
tard made of two eggs and a pint of milk, boiled in a tin 
pail in boiling water. This looks very pretty, and is ex- 
cellent. 

If you have cream, take half milk and half cream, 
and pour into the dish, instead of the custard. 

2. Put the rice into a large bowl, and press it down 
hard. Then invert the bowl in a pudding dish, and 
empty the rice, so as to leave it in the shape of the bowl. 
Make, at regular distances, openings in the rice, and lay 
in them jelly, or sweetmeats. Help some of the rice and 
sweetmeats to each person in a saucer, and have a small 
pitcher of sweetened cream, flavored with wine and nut- 
meg, and pour some into each saucer. Or prepare a 
thin custard of two eggs to a pint of milk, boiling it in a 
tin pail in boiling water. 

3. Set the rice away till cold. Then cut it into slices 
half an inch thick. Put a layer of rice in the bottom of 
a soup plate, and cover it with stewed apple, or jelly, or 
sweetmeats half an inch thick. Continue thus, with al- 
ternate layers of rice and jelly (or other cooked fruit) till 
it is as high as you wish. Then cut the edges around 
smooth and even, so as to show the stripes of fruit and 
rice, smooth it on the top, and grate on white sugar, or 
nutmeg. 

Help it in saucers, and have cream, or a thin boiled 
custard, to pour on to it. If you wish to ornament it a 
good deal, get colored sugar plums of various sizes, and 
put them in fanciful arrangements on the top. 

4. Set away boiled rice till it is cold, and so solid as to 
cut in slices. Then lay in a buttered deep pudding dish 
alternate layers of this rice, half an inch thick, and stew- 
ed or grated apple. Add sugar enough to sweeten it, and 
spice grated or sifted on each layer of fruit. When piled 
up as high as you wish, cover with rice, smooth it with 
a spoon dipped in milk, and bake it from half to three 
quarters of an hour. If the apples are grated raw, you 
must bake three quarters of an hour. When it is done, 
grate white sugar over the top, and eat it for a pudding. 



120 PLAIN PUDDINGS AND PIES. 

Pears, plums, peaches, quinces, and all the small ber- 
ries can be stewed and used with rice in this way. 

Rice can be made into rice avalanches and snow-balls, 
by taking a pudding cloth and flouring it, and laying raw 
rice over it an inch thick, and then put pared and cored fruit 
on it and draw it up and tie it so that the rice will cook 
around the fruit. Tie it tight, allowing a little room 
for the rice to swell. Make several small ones in this 
way, and they are called snow-balls. These are eaten 
with cream sweetened and spiced, or with hard or soft 
pudding sauces. 

Rice and Meat Pudding. 
Take any kind of cold meat, and chop it fine, with 
cold ham, or cold salt pork. Season it to your taste with 
salt, pepper, and sweet herbs, a little butter, and stir in 
two eggs. Then make alternate layers of cold boiled 
rice and this mixture, and bake half an hour. Or make 
it into cakes with the rice and fry it. 

Modes of preparing Dishes with Dry Bread, or 
Bread so old as to be not good for the table. 

Put all dry bits of crust and crumbs, and leavings 
of the table, in a tin pan. When the bread is drawn, set 
it in the oven, and let it stand all night. It is, when 
pounded, called rusk crumbs, and is good to eat in milk, 
and also in these ways. 

1. Take apple sauce or stewed pears, or peaches, or 
any kind of small berries, and mix them with equal 
quantities of rusk crumbs. Make a custard of four eggs 
to a quart of milk, sweetening it very sweet. Mix it 
with the bread crumbs and fruit, and bake it twenty 
minutes, as a pudding. 

2. Make a custard with four eggs to a quart of milk, 
thicken it with rusk crumbs, and bake it twenty min- 
utes, and eat it with pudding sauce, flavored with w T ine 
and nutmeg. 

3. Take any kind of cold meats, chop them fine with 
cold ham, or cold salt pork. Season with salt and pep- 
per, and mix in two eggs and a little butter. Mix this 



RICH PUDDINGS AND PIES. 121 

W 

up with bread crumbs or rusk crumbs, and bake it like 
a pudding. Or put it in a skillet, and warm it like hash. 
Or put it into balls, and flatten it and fry it like forced 
meat balls. 

4. Soak dry bread crumbs in milk till quite soft. 
Then beat up three eggs and stir in, and put in sliced 
and peeled apples, or any kind of berries. Flour a pud- 
ding cloth, and tie it up and boil it half or three quarters 
of an hour, according to the size. 

This pudding does not swell in boiling. Eat with 
sauce. 

5. Take stale bread and crumble it fine, and mix it 
with egg and a little milk, and boil it in a large pudding 
cloth, or put it around small peeled apples, and boil it for 
dumplings in several smaller cloths. 

6. Take bread crumbs, or rusk crumbs, and mix them 
with eggs and milk, and bake them for griddle cakes. If 
you have raspberries, blackberries, whortleberries, straw- 
berries, or ripe currants, put them in and then thicken with 
a little flour, so as to make drop cakes, and bake them (a 
large spoonful at a time), on a griddle, as drop cakes. 
Or put them in muffin rings, and bake them. Eat with 
butter and sugar, or with pudding sauces. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

RICH PUDDINGS AND PIES. 

Ellen's Pudding, or Rhubarb Tart 

One pint of stewed pie plant. 
Four ounces of sugar. 
One half pint of cream. 
Two ounces of pounded cracker. 
Three eggs. 

Stew the pie plant, and rub it through a sieve. Seat 
the eggs well, and mix with the sugar and cream. Stir 

11 



122 RICH PUDDINGS AND PIES. 

I 

the cracker crumbs into the fruit, and add the other in- 
gredients. Line your plate with a rnbderately rich paste, 
and bake half an hour. 

Nottingham Pudding, 

One pint of sifted flour. 

Three gills of milk. 

One gill of rich cream. 

Six apples. 

Four eggs. 

A salt spoonful of salt. 

Pare the apples, and take out the core without cutting 
the apple. Mix the batter very smooth, and pour over 
the apples. Eat with liquid sauce. This pudding re- 
quires an hour to bake. 

Rice Plum Pudding. 

Three gills of rice. 

One quarter of a pound of butter. 

One quarter of a pound of sugar. 

One quart of milk. 

A teaspoonful of salt. 

Six eggs. 

A pound and a half of stoned raisins or currants. 

Half a tablespoonful of cinnamon. 

A little rose water, and one nutmeg. 

Boil the rice with lemon peel in the milk, till soft. 
Mix the butter,' sugar, and eggs. Dredge the fruit with 
flour, and put in with the spice the last thing. Bake an 
hour and a half. 

Eve's Pudding {the best kind). 

Half a pound of beef suet, and half a teaspoonful of 
salt. 

Half a pound of pared and chopped apples. 

Half a pound of sugar. 

Half a pound of flour. 

Half a pound of stoned raisins, dredged with flour. 

Five eggs. A grated nutmeg. A glass of brandy. 



RICH PUDDINGS AND PIES. 123 

Chop and mix the suet and apples. Beat the sugar 
into the yolks of the eggs. Mix all, putting in the 
whites cut to a stiff froth just before going into the oven. 
Bake two hours. 

Baked English Plum Pudding. 

A quarter of a pound of suet, chopped first, and half a 
teaspoonful of salt. 

Half of a pound of bread crumbs. 

Half of a pound of stoned raisins, wet and dredged 
with flour. 

Half of a pound of currants. 

Half of a pound of sugar. 

Three ounces of citron. 

Milk, and six eggs. 

Pour enough scalded milk on to the bread crumbs to 
swell them ; when cold, add the other ingredients. If it 
is too stiff, thin it with milk ; if it is too thin, add more 
bread crumbs. Then add two grated nutmegs, a table- 
spoonful of mace and cinnamon, and half a gill of bran- 
dy. Bake two hours. 

A Boiled English Plum Pudding. 

One pound of currants. 

One pound of stoned raisins, dredged with flour. 

Half a pound of beef suet, chopped fine, and a tea- 
spoonful of salt. 

One pound of bread crumbs. 

One-fourth of a pound of citron. 

Eight eggs. 

Half a pint of milk, and one gill of wine, or brandy. 

A heaping coffee cup of sugar, and mace and nutmeg 
to your taste. 

Eaten with a sauce of butter, sugar, and wine. 

It requires six or seven hours to boil, and must be turn- 
ed several times. 

In both these puddings, cut the whites of the eggs to 
a stiff froth, and put in the last thing. 



124 RICH PUDDINGS AND PIES. 

Almond Cheese Cake. 

Beat eight eggs, and stir them into a quart of boiling 
milk, and boil to curds. Press the curds dry, and add 
two cups of cream, six heaping spoonfuls of sugar, and 
a teaspoonful of powdered mace and cinnamon. 

Then stir in three ounces of blanched almonds, beat 
to a thin paste with rose water, and a few bitter almonds, 
or peachnuts, beat with them. Lastly, put in half a 
pound of stoned raisins, cut up, and dredged with flour, 
and bake immediately, half an hour. 

Some persons make the curd with rennet, and then 
add the eggs and other articles. 

Cocoanut Pudding. 

Three quarters of a pound of grated cocoanut. 

One quarter of a pound of butter. 

One pound of sugar. 

One half pint of cream. 

Nine eggs. 

One gill of rose water. 

Stir the butter and sugar as for cake, add the eggs 
well beaten. Grate the cocoanuts, and stir it in Avith 
the butter and eggs. Put in the other ingredients, and 
bake with or without a crust. 

It requires three quarters of an hour for baking. 
Some persons grate in stale rusk, or sponge cake. 

Arrowroot Pudding. 

Take four tea-cups of arrowroot, and mix it with a 
pint of cold milk. Boil another pint of milk, flavoring 
it with cinnamon, or peach leaves, or lemon peel. Stir 
the arrowroot into this boiling milk. When cold, add 
the yolks of six eggs beaten into four ounces of sugar. 
Last of all, add the whites cut to a stiff froth, and bake 
in a buttered dish an hour. Ornament the top with 
sweetmeats, or citron cut up. 

Ground Rice Pudding. 
Make a batter of a quarter of a pound of ground rice, 



RICH PUDDINGS AND PIES. 125 

stirred into a pint of cold milk. Pour it into three pints 
of boiling milk, and let it boil three minutes. Mix three 
spoonfuls of butter with four ounces of sugar, and the 
yolks of eight eggs, and put to the rice. When cool, 
strain through a sieve. Flavor with nutmeg and essence 
of lemon, or boil lemon peel in the milk. Add the whites 
of the eggs last, cut to a stiff froth, and also the juice of 
a lemon. Ornament with jelly. 

Mrs. O.'s Pumpkin Pie. 
■ 
One quart of strained pumpkin, or squash. 
Two quarts of milk, and a pint of cream. 
One teaspoonful of salt, and four of ginger. 
Two teaspoonfuls of pounded cinnamon. 
Two teaspoonfuls of nutmeg, and two of mace. 
Ten well-beaten eggs, and sugar to your taste. 
Bake with a bottom crust and rim, till it is solid in the 
centre. 

Cracker Plum Pudding (excellent). 

Take eight Boston soda crackers, five pints of milk, 
and one dozen eggs. 

Make a very sweet custard, and put into it a teaspoon- 
ful of salt. 

Split the crackers, and butter them very thick. 

Put a layer of raisins on the bottom of a large pud- 
ding dish, and then a layer of crackers, and pour on a 
little of the custard when warm, and after soaking a lit- 
tle put on a thick layer of raisins, pressing them into the 
crackers with a knife. Then put on another layer of 
crackers, custard, and fruit, and proceed thus till you 
have four layers. Then pour over the whole enough 
custard to rise even with the crackers. It is best made 
over night, so that the crackers may soak. Bake from 
an hour and a half to two hours. During the first half 
hour, pour on, at three different times, a little of the cus- 
tard, thinned with milk, to prevent the top from being 
hard and dry. If it browns fast, cover with paper. 

Bread and butter pudding is made in a similar man- 
IP 



126 RICH PUDDINGS AND PIES. 

ner, except the custard need not be cooked when pour- 
ed in, and the fruit may be left out. 

Minced Pie. 

Two pounds and a half of tongue, or lean beef. 

A pound and a half of suet. 

Eight good-sized apples. 

Two pounds of raisins. 

Two pounds of sugar. 

Two gills of rose water. 

One quart of wine. 

Salt, mace, cloves, and cinnamon, to the taste. 

Boil the meat, and chop very fine. Chop the suet and 
apples very fine. Stone the raisins, cutting each into 
four pieces. Dissolve the sugar in the wine and rose 
water, and mix all well together with the spices. Twice 
this quantity of apple improves the pies, making them 
less rich. Line your plates with a rich paste, fill, cover, 
and bake. Measure the spices used, to save tasting next 
time, and to prevent mistakes. 

Marlborough Pudding. 

Six tart apples. 

Six ounces of sifted sugar. 

Six ounces of butter, or a pint of thick cream. 

Six eggs. 

The grated peel of one lemon, and half the juice. 

Grate the apples after paring and coring them. Stir 
together the butter and sugar as for cake. Then add the 
other ingredients, and bake in a rich paste. Some per- 
sons grate in crackers, and add rose water and nutmeg. 
It is much better to grate than to stew the apples, for 
this and all pies. 

Orange, or Lemon Pudding. 

Two large lemons, or oranges. 
One pound of loaf sugar. 
Four ounces of butter. 
One pint of cream. 
Nine eggs. 



RICH PUDDINGS AND PIES. 127 

A little rose water. 

Grate the yellow part of the peel of the fruit, squeeze 
the juice, mix the butter and sugar thoroughly together, 
beat the eggs well. Mix all the ingredients except the 
juice, which must not be added until ready to bake. 
Line your dishes with a rich paste, and fill and bake three 
quarters of an hour in a moderate oven. 

Sweet Potato Pudding. 

Grate half a pound of parboiled sweet potatoes, and 
stir to a cream six ounces of sugar and six of butter, and 
then add the beaten yolks of eight eggs. 

Mix the above, and add the grated peel and juice of 
a lemon, a glass of wine, and a grated nutmeg. 

The last thing, put in the whites of the eggs beat to a 
stiff froth. 

Common potatoes and carrots may be made as above, 
only they are to be boiled soft, and put through a colan- 
der, and more sugar used. 

Quince Pudding. 

Peel and grate six large quinces. Add half a pint of 
cream, half a pound of sugar, and six well-beaten eggs. 
Flavor with rose water, and bake in a buttered dish three 
quarters of an hour. 

PASTE FOR PUDDINGS AND PIES. 

This is an article which, if the laws of health were 
obeyed, would be banished from every table, for it unites 
the three evils of animal fat, cooked animal fat, and 
heavy bread. Nothing in the whole range of cooking is 
more indigestible than rich pie crust, especially when, as 
bottom crust, it is made still worse, by being soaked, or 
slack baked. Still, as this work does not profess to leave 
out unhealthy dishes, but only to set forth an abundance 
of healthful ones, and the reasons for preferring them, 
the best directions will be given for making the best 
kinds of paste. 



128 RICH PUDDINGS AND PIES. 

Healthful Pie Crusts. 

Good crusts for plain pies are made by wetting up the 
crust with rich milk turned sour, and sweetened with 
saleratus. Still better crusts are made of sour cream 
sweetened with saleratus. 

Mealy potatoes boiled in salted water, and mixed with 
the same quantity of flour, and wet with sour milk 
sweetened with saleratus, make a good crust. 

Good light bread rolled thin, makes a good crust for 
pandowdy, or pan pie, and also for the upper crust of 
fruit pies, to be made without bottom crusts. 

Paste made ivith Butter. 

Very plain paste is made by taking a quarter of a 
pound of butter for every pound of ilour. Still rich- 
er allows three quarters of a pound of butter to a pound 
of flour. Very rich paste has a pound of butter to a 
pound of flour. 

Directions for making Paste. 

Take a quarter of the butter to be used, rub it 
thoroughly into the flour, and wet it with cold wa- 
ter to a stiff paste. 

Next dredge the board thick with flour, and cut up 
the remainder of the butter into thin slices, and lay them 
upon the flour, and dredge flour over thick, and then roll 
out the butter into thin sheets and lay it aside. 

Then roll out the paste thin, cover it with a sheet of 
this rolled butter, dredge on more flour, fold it up, and 
roll it out, and then repeat the process till all the butter 
is used up. 

Paste should be made as quick and as cold as possible. 
Some use a marble table in order to keep it cold. Roll 
from you every time. 

Puff Paste. 

Dissolve a bit of sal volatile, the size of a hickory- 
nut, in cold water. Take three quarters of a pound 
of butter for every quart of flour, and rub in one quar- 
ter of the butter, and wet it up with cold water, add- 



RICH PUDDINGS AND PIES. 129 

ing the salts when cool. Roll all the rest of the butter 
into sheets as directed above. Roll the paste three times, 
each time laying over it one-third of the butter sheets, and 
dredging on flour, as directed above. In rolling it, always 
roll from you, and not towards you. 

SAUCES FOR PUDDINGS. 

Liquid Sauce. 

Six tablespoonfuls of sugar. 

Ten tablespoonfuls of water. 

Four tablespoonfuls of butter. 

Two tablespoonfuls of wine. 

Nutmeg, or lemon, or orange peel, or rose water, to 
flavor. 

Heat the water and sugar very hot. Stir in the but- 
ter till it is melted, but be careful not to let it boil. Add 
the wine and nutmeg just before it is used. 

Hard Sauce. 

Two tablespoonfuls of butter. 
Ten tablespoonfuls of sugar. 

Work this till white, then add wine and spice to your 
taste. 

A Healthful Pudding Sauce. 

Boil in half a pint of water, some orange or lemon 
peel, or peach leaves. Take them out and pour in a 
thin paste, made with two spoonfuls of flour, and boil 
five minutes. Then put in a pint of brown sugar, and 
let it boil. Then put in two spoonfuls of butter, and a 
glass of wine, and take it up before it boils. 

An excellent Sauce for Boiled Rice. 

Beat the yolks of three eggs into sugar enough to 
make it quite sweet. Add a tea-cup of cream, and the 
grated peel and juice of two lemons. When lemons can- 
not be had, use dried lemon peel, and a little tartaric 
acid. This is a good sauce for other puddings, especial- 
ly for the starch minute pudding. 



130 PLAIN CAKES. 

The first receipt for whip syllabub furnishes a very 
delicate sauce for a delicate pudding, such as the one 
made of potato starch. 

Sweetened cream flavored with grated lemon peel or 
nutmeg is a fine pudding sauce. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

PLAIN CAKES. 



General Directions for Making Cake. 

Tie up your hair so that none can fall, put on a long- 
sleeved apron, have the kitchen put in order, and then 
arrange all the articles and utensils you will have occa- 
sion to use. 

If you aie a systematic and thrifty housekeeper, you 
will have your sugar pounded, all your spices ready 
prepared in boxes, or bottles, your saleratus sifted, 
your currants washed and dried, your ginger sifted, and 
your weights, measures, and utensils all in their place 
and in order. 

Butter your tins before beginning to make the cake, 
so as not to stop for the purpose. It saves much trouble 
to have your receipt book so arranged that you can 
measure instead of weighing. This can be done by 
weighing the first time, and then have a small measure 
cup, and fill it with each ingredient you have weighed. 
Then note it down in your receipt book, and ever after 
use the same measure cup. 

Always sift your flour, for neither bread nor cake 
should be made with unsifted flour, not merely because 
there may be dirt in it, but because packing injures its 
lightness, and sifting restores it, and makes bread and 
cake lighter. 

The day before you wish to make cake, stone your 
raisins, and blanch your almonds, by pouring hot water 



PLAIN CAKES. 131 

on them, to take off the skins, and then throwing them 
into cold water to whiten them. When ready to make 
your cake, grate your lemon or orange peel. Next weigh 
your butter and cut it in pieces, and put it where it will 
soften, but not melt. Then butter your tins. Next, 
stir the butter to a cream, and then add the sugar, and 
work till white. Next, beat the yolks of the eggs, strain 
them, and put them to the sugar and butter. Mean- 
time another person should beat the whites to a stiff 
froth, and put them in. Then add the spices and flour, 
and last of all the fruit, as directed below. 

Do not use the hand to make cake, but a wood spoon 
or spad. Earthen is best to make cake in. 

In receipts where milk is used, never mix sweet and 
sour milk, as it makes cake heavy, even when either 
alone would not do it. 

Butter in the least degree strong, spoils cake. 

Try whether cake is done by piercing it with a broom 
splinter, and if nothing adheres it is done. 

An oven, to bake cake well, must have a good heat at 
bottom, and not be too hot on the top, or the cake will be 
heavy. As these receipts have all been proved, if they 
fail to make good cake, the fault is probably in the 
baking. 

Cake that is to be frosted, should be baked in pans 
with perpendicular instead of slanting sides. Line them 
with buttered paper, the salt soaked out of the butter. 
If the oven proves too hot, cover the top with paper be- 
fore it hardens, or the cake will be heavy. 

The best way to put in fruit is to sprinkle flour over 
it, then put in a layer of cake at the bottom, half an inch 
thick, then a layer of fruit, taking care that it does not 
touch the sides of the pan, and thus dry up ; then a lit- 
tle more cake, then another layer of fruit, and thus till 
the cake is three inches thick (not more), and let the top 
layer be cake. 

Always dissolve saleratus, or sal volatile, in hot water, 
as milk does not perfectly dissolve it, and thus there will 
be yellow specks made. 



132 PLAIN CAKES. 

Make your eggs cold, and whisk till they will stand 
in a heap. 

Volatile alkali the size of a hickory-nut, and a bit of 
alum of equal size, powdered and dissolved in cold water, 
will ensure light bread or cake. 

A quick oven is so hot that you can count moderately 
only twenty ; and a slow one allows you to count thirty, 
while you hold your hand in it. 

Ail cake without yeast should have the flour put in 
quickly, just as it goes into the oven. 

Keep cake in a tin box, or in a stone jar wrapped in 
clean linen. 

Rose Butter, 

Take a glass jar, put on the bottom a layer of butter, 
and each day put in rose leaves, adding layers of but- 
ter, and when full, cover tight, and use the butter for ar- 
ticles to be flavored with rose water. 

Directions for Cleansing Currants. 

Put them in warm, not hot water, and rub them 
thoroughly. Take out all but the bottom part into an- 
other pail of water. Then rinse those remaining in the 
bottom of the first water, through two or three waters, 
as this part contains most of the impure parts. Then 
put them into the other pail with the first portion, and 
rinse all very thoroughly. Take them out with the 
hands, drain them on a sieve, and spread them on 
a clean large cloth on a table. Rub them dry with the 
ends of the cloth, and then sit down and pull off the good 
ones into a dish in your lap, and push the poor ones 
aside, being careful to look for the little stones. Spread 
them to dry on a board, or large dishes, and set them in 
the sun, or any warm place, to dry. Then tie them up 
in a jar for future use. 

Frosting for Cake. 

For the whites of every two eggs, take a quarter of a 
pound of sifted loaf sugar. Some use only one egg for 
thi3 quantity of sugar. 




PLAIN CAKES. 133 

Make the eggs cold in cold water, and free them from 
all of the yolk. Beat the whites in a cool place, till a 
very stiff froth. Sift the sugar, and beat it in until you 
can pile it in a heap. Flavor with lemon or rose wa- 
ter. Allow two Whites for each common-sized loaf. 
Spread on with a knife, after the cake is cool, and then 
smooth with another knife dipped in water. Set it in 
a warm place to dry. The ornamental filagree work on 
frosting is easily done by using a small syringe. Draw 
it full of the above frosting, and as you press it out 
make figures to your taste. It must not be put on till 
the frosting of the cake is hardened. 

Cake Frosting (another, which is harder). 

To the white of each egg, put one heaping teaspoon- 
ful of starch, and nine heaping teaspoonfuls of sifted 
white sugar. 

Cut the whites to a stiff froth, mix the sugar and starch, 
and stir in gradually ; continue to stir ten minutes after it 
is mixed, add two teaspoonfuls of lemon juice, and flavor jt 
with rose water. Put it on with a knife when the cake 
has stood out of the oven twenty minutes, and then set 
it in a cool place to harden. Allow the whites of three 
eggs for two cakes of common size. 

Good Child' s Cake. 

Three cups raised dough. 

One cup of molasses. 

The juice and grated rind of a lemon, or one nut- 
meg. 

Half a cup of melted butter, put with the molasses. 

Two well-beaten eggs. 

A teaspoonful of saleratus in two spoonfuls of hot 
water. 

Work all together, put into buttered pans, and set into 
the oven immediately. 

Put in the lemon juice just before you put it in the 
pans. 

If you do not have lemon juice, add a great spoonful 

12 



134 PLAIN CAKES. 

of sharp vinegar, after working the ingredients together, 
and just before putting it into pans. The lemon juice 
must be added the last minute. Some think this is im- 
proved by standing to rise fifteen minutes. Try and 
see. 

Ginger Snaps. 

One cup of molasses. 

Half a cup of sugar. 

Half a cup of butter. 

Half a cup of warm water, the butter melted with it. 

A small teaspoonful of pearlash, dissolved in the wa- 
ter. 

Two tablespoonfuls of ginger. 

The dough should be stiff; knead it well, and roll 
into sheets, cut into round cakes, and bake in a moder- 
ate oven. 

Child's Feather Cake. 

Three cups of light dough. 

Two cups rolled sugar. 

Three well-beaten eggs, mixed with the sugar and 
butter. 

Half a cup of warm milk, or a little less. 

One teaspoonful of saleratus in two great spoonfuls of 
water, and put in the milk. 

One cup of melted butter, worked into the sugar. 

The grated rind and juice of one lemon. 

Work all together, adding the lemon juice just before 
putting it in buttered pans. If you have no lemons, use 
one nutmeg, and a tablespoonful of sharp vinegar, ad- 
ded just before putting it in pans. One and a half, if 
the vinegar is weak. Some think this improved by 
standing to rise fifteen minutes. Try it. 

Best Molasses Gingerbread. 

One even tablespoonful of strong ginger, and two if 
weak. 

A gill and a half of milk. 

One heaping teaspoonful saleratus,, very fine, dissolv- 



PLAIN CAKES. 135 

ed in a tablespoonful of hot water, and put into the 
milk. 

Half a pint of molasses, and a small tea-cup full of 
butter. 

Take three pints of flour, and rub the butter and gin- 
ger into it thoroughly. Then make a hole in the mid- 
dle, and pour in the molasses and milk, and begin mix- 
ing in the flour, and while doing this, put in a great 
spoonful of strong vinegar, and if it is weak, a little more. 
If not stiff enough to roll out, add a little more flour. 
Roll it into cards an inch thick, and put it into two but- 
tered square pans. Bake it in a flat tin pan, and put it, 
if the oven is quite hot, on a muffin ring, to keep it from 
burning at the bottom, and allow from twenty-five to 
thirty minutes for baking. When done, set it on its 
edge, or on a sieve, to cool. 

Sponge Gingerbread. 

One pint of molasses. 

Two great spoonfuls of melted butter. 

One even tablespoonful of ginger. 

One quart of sifted flour. 

A heaping tablespoonful of saleratus dissolved in as 
much hot water. 

Half a pint of inilk, the saleratus first dissolved in hot 
water, and put into it. 

Make a hole in the flour, and put in all the other in- 
gredients, and while working them together, add a great 
spoonful of good vinegar, or if weak, one and a half. 

Cider Cake. 

One tea-cup of butter. 

Three tea-cups of sugar. 

Two tea-cups of sifted flour. 

A teaspoonful of saleratus in two great spoonfuls of 
water. 

A grated nutmeg, and -half a tea-cup of milk, with 
the saleratus in it. Make a hole in the flour, and put in 
all the ingredients, and while mixing them, add a tea- 
cup of cider and four more cups of flour. 



136 PLAIN CAKES* 

Cup Cake without Eggs. 

One cup of butter. 

Two cups of sugar. 

One cup of sour cream, or sour milk. 

Sal volatile 5 the size of a small nutmeg, or a tea spoon- 
ful of saleratus, dissolved in cold water. 

A gill of brandy or wine, half a grated nutmeg, and a 
teaspoonful of essence of lemon. 

Flour enough for a stiff batter. 

Put in buttered pans an inch thick, and bake in a 
quick oven. 

Cream Cake without Eggs. 

Four cups of flour. 

Three cups of sugar. 

One cup of butter. 

Two cups of sour cream. 

Two teaspoonfuls of sal volatile, or three of saleratus, 
dissolved in a lit tie cold water. 

A teaspoonful of essence of lemon, and half a grated 
nutmeg. 

Work the butter and sugar together, add the cream 
and spice, and put all into a hole in the middle of the 
flour. Then add the sal volatile, or saleratus. Mix 
quick and thoroughly, and set in the oven immediately. 

Cream Tartar Cake, without Eggs. 

Three pints of sifted flour, measured after sifting. 

One teaspoonful super carbonate of soda. 

A salt spoonful of salt. 

Two teaspoonfuls of cream tartar. 

A cup and a half of milk. 

A pint of rolled sugar. 

Mix the cream tartar thoroughly with the flour, and 
add grated lemon peel, or nutmeg ; then dissolve the 
soda in two great spoonfuls of hot water, and put it with 
the sugar to the milk. When dissolved, wet it up as 
quick as possible, but so as to mix very thoroughly. 



PLAIN CAKES. 137 

Roll it out, cut into round cakes, and bake immediate- 
ly. It must be as soft as can be rolled. Add a little 
more flour, if needfu* ; bake in a quick oven fifteen or 
twenty minutes. Try more than once, as you may fail 
at first. When you get the knack it is easy, sure, and 
very good. 

Fruit Cake without Eggs. 

Two pounds of flour. 

One and three quarter pounds of sugar. 

One pint of milk. 

Half a pound of butter. 

Half a teaspoon ful of salt. 

One and a half teaspoonfuls of soda, or saleratus, or 
two of sal volatile, dissolved in a little hot water. 

One nutmeg, one pound of raisins, and one wine-glass 
of brandy. This makes three loaves. 

Warm the milk, and add the butter and salt to it. 
Work the butter and sugar to a cream, and then add 
the milk, then the flour 3 then the saleratus, and lastly 
the spice und fruit. 

Drop Cake. 

Four and a half tea-cups of flour. 

Two and a half tea-cups of sugar. 

Half a cup of butter, and five eggs. 

Work the butter and sugar to a cream ; beat the yolks 
and whites separately; add the yolks, then the whites, 
then the flour. Drop them on a buttered tin, and sprin- 
kle caraway sugar plums on the top. 

Sugar Gingerbread (rich). 

One pound of sugar. 
One pound of sifted flour. 
Half a pound of butter. 
Six eggs. 

Two even tablespoonfuls of ginger. 
Rub the butter and sugar together, add the eggs well 
12* 



138 PLAIN CAKES. 

beaten, the flour and ginger, and bake in two square 
tin sheets. 

Sugar Gingerbread (plainer). 

Two cups of sugar. 

One cup of butter, rubbed with the sugar. 

One cup of milk. 

Two eggs. 

One teaspoonful of pearlash in hot water. 

Three tablespoonfuls of ginger. 

Five cups of flour. 

Make it a soft dough, and add more flour if needed. 

Sponge Cake. 

Twelve eggs. 

The weight of ten in powdered loaf sugar. 

The weight of six in sifted flour. 

The grated peel, and half the juice of one lemon. 

Stir the yolks of the eggs with the sugar, until very 
light, then add the whites of the eggs, after they are 
beaten to a stiff froth, stir lightly together, flavor with 
the lemon, sprinkle in the flour just before it is to be put 
into the oven, stirring it in as quickly as possible. 

Bake in two square tin pans, the bottom and sides of 
which should be covered with white paper, well but- 
tered. 

Weigh it once, then get the measure of the propor- 
tions, to save the trouble of weighing afterward. 

The secret of making good sponge cake lies in putting 
the flour in the last minute before it goes into the oven, 
and having a good bake. 

Bridget's Bread Cake (excellent). 

Three cups of dough, very light. 

Three cups of sugar. 

One cup of butter. 

Three eggs. A nutmeg. Raisins. 



PLAIN CAKES. 139 

One teaspoonful of pearlash, dissolved in a little hot 
water. 

Rub the butter and sugar together, add the eggs and 
spice, and mix all thoroughly with the dough. Beat it 
well, and pour into the pans. It will do to bake it im- 
mediately, but the cake will be lighter if it stands a short 
time to rise, before putting it into the oven. It is an ex- 
cellent cake for common use. 

It is very important that the ingredients should be 
thoroughly mixed with the dough. 

Doughnuts. 

One pound of butter. 

One pound and three quarters of sugar, worked with 
the butter. 

Three pints of milk. 

Four eggs. 

One pint of yeast, if home-made, or half a pint of dis- 
tillery yeast. 

Mace and cinnamon to the taste. 

Flour enough to make the dough stiff as biscuit. 

Rub the butter and sugar together, add the other in- 
gredients, and set the dough in a warm place to rise. 
When thoroughly light, roll into sheets, cut with a sharp 
knife into diamond-shaped pieces, and boil them in fresh 
lard. Use a good deal of lard, and have it sufficiently 
hot, or the cake will absorb the fat. 

Cookies (plain). 

Two cups of sugar. 

One cup of butter, worked into the sugar. 

One cup of milk. 

Two eggs. 

Caraway seeds. 

A small teaspoonful of pearlash, dissolved in a little 
hot water. 

Flour sufficient to roll. 

The dough should be well kneaded before it is rolled 
into sheets. 



140 PLAIN CAKES. 

French Cake. 

Five cups of flour. 

Two cups of powdered sugar. 

Half a cup of butter. 

One cup of milk. 

One wine-glass of wine. 

Three eggs. Spice to the taste. 

A teaspoonful of peariash. 

Rub the butter and sugar together, then add the milk, 
part of the flour, and the pearl-ash dissolved in wine ; 
afterward the remainder of the flour and the eggs. The 
yolks are to be beaten separately, and the whites beaten 
and put in the last thing. Bake in two square tin pans. 

Walnut HUVs Doughnuts. 

One tea-cup of sour cream, or milk. 

Two tea-cups of sugar. 

One tea-cup of butter. 

Four eggs, and one nutmeg. 

Two teaspoonfuls of saleratus. 

Flour enough to roll. 

Cut into diamond cakes, and boil in hot lard. 

Cocoanut Cup Cake. 

Two cups of rolled white sugar, and one and a half of 
butter. 

One cup of milk, and a teaspoonful of saleratus dis- 
solved in hot water. 

Four eggs well beaten, and a nutmeg. Or flavor 
with rose water. 

The white part of one cocoanut, grated 

Flour enough to make a stiff batter. 

Beat it well, put it in buttered tins, an inch thick, in 
a quick oven, and when done, frost it, and cut it in 
square pieces. 

Cocoanut Sponge Cake. 

One grated cocoanut, the outer part peeled off. 
A teaspoonful of salt, and half a grated nutmeg. 



PLAIN CAKES. 141 

A pint of sifted white sugar. 

Six eggs, the yolks beat and strained, the whites cut 
to a stiff froth. 

One teaspoonful of essence of lemon. 

A half a pint of sifted flour. 

Mix the yolks and the sugar, and then the other in- 
gredients, except the whites and the flour. Just as you 
are ready to put the cake in the oven, put in the whites, 
then add the flour by degrees, and stir only just enough 
to mix it ; then put it on buttered paper in cake pans, 
and set it in. Have a quick oven, but take care not to 
have the top harden quick. Cover with paper if there 
is any danger. 

Lemon Cake. — No. 1. 

Four tumblers of flour. 

Two and a half of powdered white sugar. 

Three quarters of a tumbler of butter. 

One tumbler of milk, two lemons, three eggs, and one 
heaping teaspoonful of soda. Saleratus will do, but is 
not so good as soda. 

This serves for two square loaves. Dissolve the soda 
in the milk, heat the yolks, and strain them. Cut the 
whites to a stiff froth, work the butter and sugar till they 
look like cream, then add the yolks, then the milk, then the 
whites of eggs, and then the flour. When thoroughly 
mixed, grate in the peel of one lemon, and squeeze in 
the juice of two, and this must not be done till it is ready 
to set immediately into the oven. 

A tumbler and a half of currants improves this cake. 
Put them in with the lemon juice. 

This is delicious when first baked, but will not keep 
so well as No. 2, which is richer. 

Gingernuts. 

Six pounds of flour. 

One pound and a quarter of butter, rubbed into the 
sugar. 

One pound and three quarters of sugar. 
One quart of molasses. 



142 PLAIN CAKES. 

Four ounces of ginger, one nutmeg, and some cinna- 
mon. 

The dough should be stiff, and then kneaded hard for 
a long time. Cut into small cakes. They will keep 
good, closely covered in a stone jar, for many months. 

Honey Cake. 

One quart of strained honey. 

Half a pint of sugar. 

Half a pint of melted butter. 

A teaspoonful of saleratus, dissolved in half a tea-cup 
of warm water. 

Half a nutmeg, and a teaspoonful of ginger. 

Mix the above, ^nd then work in sifted flour till you 
can roll it. Cut it into thin cakes, and bake it on but- 
tered tins, in a quickkwen. 

New Yearns Cookies. 

One pound of butter. 

A pound and three quarters of sugar. 

Two teaspoonfuls of saleratus, in a pint of milk (but- 
termilk is better). 

Mix the butter and sugar to a cream, and add the 
milk and saleratus. Then beat three eggs, and add, 
and grate in one nutmeg. Rub in a heaping tablespoon 
of caraway seed. Add flour enough to roll. Make it 
one quarter of an inch in thickness, and bake imme- 
diately in a quick oven. 

Boston Cream Cake. 

One pint of butter rubbed into one quart of flour. 

One quart of hot water, with the butter and flour stir- 
red in. 

When cool, break in from six to twelve eggs, as you 
can afford. 

If needed, add flour till thick enough to drop on but- 
tered tins in round cakes, the size of a tea-cup. 

When baked, open and fill with soft custard, or mock 
cream. 



PLAIN CAKES. 143 

Almond, Hickory, or Cocoanut Cake. 

Half a pound of flour. % Half a teaspoonful of salt. 

A quarter of a pound of butter. 

One pound of sugar. 

One tea-cup of sour cream, or sour milk, or buttermilk. 

Four eggs, and lemon, or any other flavor to your 
taste. 

A teaspoonful of saleratus, or better, a bit of sal vola- 
tile, the size of a nutmeg, dissolved in two spoonfuls of 
hot water. 

Mix the above thoroughly, then grate in the white 
part of a cocoanut, or stir in half a pint of chopped hick- 
ory-nuts, chopped fine, or put in a pound of blanched al- 
monds, pounded, but not to a paste. Put it in buttered 
pans, an inch and a half thick, and bake in a quick 
oven. 

Caraway Cakes. 

Two quarts of flour. 

One cup of butter. 

One quart of rolled sugar. 

Half a pint of caraway seeds. 

A teaspoonful of essence of lemon. 

Mix the sugar and butter to a cream, add the other 
materials, roll out, and cut into square cakes, and crimp 
the edges. 

Sal volatile the size of a nutmeg, dissolved in a little 
hot water, improves this. 

Fruit Drop Cakes. 

Two pounds of flour. 

One pound of butter. 

One pound of currants. 

One pound of sugar. Three eggs. 

A teaspoonful each, of rose water, and essence of lem- 
on, and a gill of brandy. 

Rub the butter and sugar to a cream. Beat the eggs, 
and add them. Then put in the other articles. Strew 



144 PLAIN CAKES. 

tin sheets with flour and powdered sugar, and then drop 
on in small cakes. Bake in a quick oven. 

Dr. B:s Loaf Cake. 

Two pounds of dried and sifted flour. 

A pint of new milk, blood warm. 

A quarter of a pound of butter. 

Three quarters of a pound of sugar. 

A pint of home-brewed yeast, or half as much distil- 
lery yeast. 

Three eggs, and one pound of stoned raisins. , 

A glass of wine and a nutmeg. 

Work the butter and sugar to a cream, and then rub 
them well into the flour. Then add the other things, 
and let it rise over night. Bake an hour and a half, in 
a slack oven. Put the fruit in as directed in the receipt 
for raised loaf cake. 

Fa,ncy Cakes. 

Beat the yolks of four eggs into half a pound of pow- 
dered sugar. Add a little less than a half a pound of 
flour. Beat fifteen minutes, and then put in some es- 
sence of lemon, and the whites of the eggs cut to a stiff 
froth. Bake in small patties, and put sugar plums on 
the top. 

Fried Curd Cakes. 

Stir four well-beaten eggs into a quart of boiling milk. 
Make it very sweet, and cool it. Then stir in two even 
tea-cups full of sifted flour, a teaspoonful of essence of lem- 
on, and two more well-beaten eggs. Fry these in sweet 
butter as drop cakes. 

Wine Cake. 

Put six ounces of sugar into a pint of wine, and make 
it boiling hot. When blood warm, pour it on to six 
well-beaten eggs, and stir in a quarter of a pound of sift- 
ed flour. Beat it well, and bake immediately in a quick 
oven. 



PLAIN CAKES. 14*5 

Egg Rusk. 

Melt three ounces of butter into a pint of milk. Beat 
six eggs into a quarter of a pound of sugar. Mix these 
with flour enough for a batter, and add a gill of 
distillery yeast, and half a teaspoonful of salt. When 
light, add flour enough to make a dough stiff enough to 
mould. Make them into small cakes, and let them rise 
in a warm place while the oven is heating. 

Citron Tea Cakes. 

One tea-cup of sugar. 

Two-thirds of a cup of butter. 

Two cups of flour. 

A bit of volatile salts, the size of a nutmeg, dissolved 
in hot water (the same quantity of alum dissolved with 
it, improves it), and put to half a cup of milk. 

Beat till light, then add a teaspoonful of essence of 
lemon, and small thin strips of citron, or candied lemon 
peel. 

Bake in shallow pans, or small patties. 

French Biscuit (Mrs. Dr. C). 

Six pounds of flour. 

One pint and a half of new milk. 

Six ounces of butter. 

A cup and a half of sugar. 

A teaspoonful of salt. 

Six eggs, and half a pint of distillery yeast,' or twice 
as much home-brewed. 

Melt the butter in the milk, and beat the eggs. Then 
add all the ingredients, set it to rise, and when very 
light, mould it into small biscuits, and bake in a quick 
oven. 

13 



146 KICK CAKES. 



CHAPTER XV. 

RICH CAKES. 

Old Hartford Election Cake (100 years old). 

Five pounds of dried and sifted flour. 

Two pounds of butter. 

Two pounds of sugar. 

Three gills of distillery yeast, or twice the quantity of 
home-brewed. 

Four eggs. 

A gill of wine and a gill of brandy. 

Half an ounce of nutmegs, and two pounds of fruit. 

A quart of milk. 

Rub the butter very fine into the flour, add half 
the sugar, then the yeast, then half the milk, hot in 
winter, and blood warm in summer, then the eggs well 
beaten, the wine, and the remainder of the milk. Beat 
it well, and let it stand to rise all night. Beat it well in 
the morning, adding the brandy, the sugar, and the 
spice. Let it rise three or four hours, till very light. 
When you put the wood into the oven, put the cake in 
buttered pans, and put in the fruit as directed previously. 
If you wish it richer, add a pound of citron. 

Raised Loaf Cuke. 

Six pounds of dried and sifted flour. 

Three pounds of sugar. 

Two pounds and a half of butter. 

Four eggs, and two pounds of raisins. 

Four nutmegs. 

Two gills of wine, and two gills of brandy. 

In the afternoon, mix the butter and sugar, take half 
of it and rub into the flour ; take about a quart of milk, 
blood warm, put the yeast into the flour, then wet it up. 



RICH CAKES. 147 

When fully light, add the rest of the butter and sugar, 
beat the eggs, and put them in, and set the whole to 
rise till morning. Add the brandy, wine, and spice, in 
the morning, and put it in the pans. The fruit is to be 
added in this way: — First dredge it with flour, then 
put in enough cake to cover the bottom of the pans, 
then sprinkle some fruit, and do not let any of it 
rest against the pan, as it burns, and is thus wasted. 
Then continue to add a layer of fruit and a layer of 
cake, having no fruit on the top. This saves those 
that usually burn on the pan, and secures a more equal 
distribution. 

Mrs. H.'s Raised Wedding Cake {very fine). 

Nine pounds of dried and sifted flour. 
Four and a half pounds of white sugar. 
Four and a half pounds of butter. 
Two quarts of scalded milk. 
One quart of the yeast, fresh made as below. 
Six eggs. 

Six pounds of raisins. 
Two pounds of citron. 
One ounce of mace. 
One gill of brandy. 
One gill of wine. 

Put the ingredients together as directed in the Rais- 
ed Loaf Cake. 

Yeast for the above Cake. 

Nine large potatoes, peeled, boiled, and mashed fine. 

One quart of water, a very small pinch of hops. 

Boil all together, strain through a sieve, add a small 
tea-cup of flour, and, when blood warm, half a pint of 
distillery yeast, or twice as much home-brew T ed. Strain 
again, and let it work till very light and foaming. 

Fruiffilake, or Black Cake. 

One pound of powdered white sugar. 
Three quarters of a pound of butter. 
One pound of flour, sifted. 



148 RICH CAKES. 

Twelve eggs. 

Two pounds of raisins ; stoned, and part of them chop- 
ped. 

Two pounds of currants, carefully cleaned. 

Half a pound of citron, cut into strips. 

A quarter of an ounce each, of cinnamon, nutmegs, and 
cloves, mixed. 

One wine-glass of wine, and one wine-glass of brandy. 

Rub the butter and sugar together, then add the yolks 
of the eggs, part of the flour, the spice, and the whites 
of the eggs well beaten, then add the remainder of the 
flour, and the wine and brandy. Mix all thoroughly 
together. Cover the bottom and sides of two square 
tin pans with white paper, well buttered, pour the mix- 
ture in, adding the fruit as formerly directed, first dredg- 
ing it with flour, and bake four hours. After it is taken 
from the oven, and a little cooled, ice it thickly. 

Pound Cake. 

One pound of powdered loaf sugar. 

One pound of sifted flour. 

Three quarters of a pound of fresh butter. 

Eight eggs, and one nutmeg. 

Rub the butter and sugar together until very light, 
then add the yolks of the eggs, the spice, and part of the 
flour. Beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, and 
stir in with the remainder of the flour. Mix all well to- 
gether, and bake in small tins, icing the cakes when 
they are a little warm. 

French Loaf Cake. 

Five cups of powdered sugar. 

Three cups of fresh butter. 

Two cups of milk. 

Six eggs. 

Ten cups of dried and sifted flour. 

One wine-glass of wine, one wine-glass of brandy. 

Three nutmegs, a small teaspoonful of pearlash. 

One pound of raisins, a Quarter of a pound of citron. 



RICH CAKES. 149 

Stir the sugar and butter to a cream, then add part of 
the flour, with the milk a little warm, and the beaten yolks 
of the eggs. Then add, with the remainder of the flour, 
the whites of the eggs well beaten, the spice, wine, bran- 
dy, and pearlash. Mix all thoroughly together, add the 
fruit, as you put it into the pans. This will make four 
loaves. Bake about an hour, and then ice them. 

Portugal Cake. 

One pound powdered loaf sugar. 

One pound of dried and sifted flour. 

Half a pound of butter. 

Eight eggs. 

Two tablespoonfuls of lemon juice, or white wine. 

One pound of fruit. 

One nutmeg. 

One and a half pounds of almonds, weighed before 
shelling. 

Stir the butter and sugar to a cream. Beat the whites 
and yolks of the eggs separately. Then, by degrees, put 
in the flour, and add the lemon juice last, stirring all 
lightly together. If almonds are to be used, they should 
be blanched. Pound the almonds, or cut into shreds. 

Golden Cake. 

This and the following cake are named from gold and 
silver, on account of their color as well as their excellence. 

They should be made together, so as to use both por- 
tions of the eggs. 

To make golden cake, take 

One pound of flour, dried and sifted. 

One pound of sugar. 

Three quarters of a pound of butter. 

The yolks of fourteen eggs. 

The yellow part of two lemons grated, and the juice 
also. 

Beat the sugar and butter to a cream, and add the 
yolks, well beaten and strained. Then add the lemon 
peel and flour, and a teaspoonful of sal volatile, dissolved 

13* 



150 RICH CAKES. 

in a little hot water. Beat it well, and just before put- 
ting it into the oven add the lemon juice, beating it in 
very thoroughly. 

Bake in square flat pans, ice it thickly, and cut it in 
square pieces. It looks finely on a dish with the silver cake. 

Silver Cake. 

One pound of sugar. 

Three quarters of a pound of dried and sifted flour. 

Six ounces of butter. 

Mace and citron. 

The whites of fourteen eggs. 

Beat the sugar and butter to a cream, add the whites 
cut to a stiff froth, and then the flour. It is a beautiful- 
looking cake. 

Shrewsbury Cake. 

One pound of dried and sifted flour. 

Three quarters of a pound of powdered sugar. 

Half a pound of butter. 

Five eggs. 

Rose water, or grated lemon peel. 

Stir the butter and sugar to a cream. Then add the 
eggs, the whites and yolks beaten separately, and add 
the flour. 

Queen's Cake. 

One pound of dried and sifted flour. 

One pound of sugar. 

Half a pound of butter. 

Four eggs. One nutmeg. 

One gill of wine. 

One gill of brandy. 

One gill of thin cream. 

One pound of fruit. 

Rub the butter and sugar together. Beat separately 
the yolks and whites of the eggs. Mix all the ingre- 
dients, except the flour and fruit, which must be put in 
just before putting in the oven. This makes two three- 
pint pans full. It requires one hour and a half to bake. 



RICH CAKES. 151 

Crullars. 

Five cups of flour. 

One cup of butter. 

Two cups of sugar. 

Four eggs. 

One spoonful of rose water. Nutmeg. 

Rub the butter and sugar together, add the eggs, the 
whites and yolks beaten separately, then the flour. Roll 
into a sheet about half an inch thick, cut this with a 
jagging-iron into long narrow strips. Twist them into 
various shapes, and fry them in hot lard, of a light 
brown. The fat must be abundant in quantity, and 
very hot, to prevent the lard from soaking into the cake. 

Lemon Cake, — No. 2. 

One pound of dried and sifted flour. 

One pound of sugar. 

Three quarters of a pound of butter. 

Seven eggs. 

The juice of one lemon, and the peel of two. 

This makes two loaves. 

Beat and strain the yolks, cut the whites hard, work 
the butter and sugar to a cream. Fruit if wished. A 
tumbler and a half of currants is enough. 

This is richer than No. 1, and keeps well. 

Almond Cake. 

One pound of sifted sugar. 

The yolks of twelve eggs, beat and mixed wi§i the 
sugar. 

The whites of nine eggs, added to the above in a stiff 
froth. 

A pound of dried and sifted flour, mixed after the above 
has been stirred ten minutes. 

Half a pound of sweet almonds, and half a dozen bit- 
ter ones, blanched and pounded with rose water to a 
cream. 

Six tablespoonfuls of thick cream. 






152 RICH CAKES. 

Use the reserved whites of eggs for frosting. 
This makes one large, or two small loaves. 

Lemon Drop Cakes* 

Three heaping tablespoonfuls of sifted white sugar. 
A tablespoonful of sifted flour. 
The grated rinds of three lemons. 
The white of one egg well beaten ; all mixed. 
Drop on buttered paper, and bake in a moderate 
oven. 

Jelly Cake. 

Half a pound of sifted white sugar. 

Six ounces of butter. 

Eight eggs, whites beat to a stiff froth. Yolks beat 
and strained. 

Juice and grated rind of one lemon. 

One pound of dried and sifted flour. 

Work the butter and sugar to a cream. Add the 
eggs, then the flour, and then the lemon juice. Butter 
tin scolloped pans, and put in this a quarter of an inch 
thick. Bake a light brown, and pile them in layers, 
with jelly or marmelade between. 

Cocoanut Drops. 

One pound grated cocoanut, only the white part. 

One pound sifted white sugar. 

The whites of six eggs, cut to a stiff froth. 

You must have enough whites of eggs to wet the 
whole jjtiff. 

Drop on buttered plates the size of a cent, and bake 
immediately. 

Sugar Drops. 

Twelve spoonfuls of butter. 
Twenty-four spoonfuls of sifted white sugar. 
A pint of sifted flour. 

Half a nutmeg, and three eggs, the whites beaten 
separately. 



PRESERVES AND JELLIES. 153 

Mix the butter and sugar to a cream, add the eggs, 
then the flour, drop on buttered tins, and put sugar plums 
on the top. Bake ten or fifteen minutes. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

PRESERVES AND JELLIES. 

General Directions for' making Preserves and Jellies. 

Gather fruit when it is dry. 

Long boiling hardens the fruit. 

Pour boiling water over the sieves used, and wring 
out jelly-bags in hot water the moment you are to use 
them. 

Do not squeeze while straining through jelly-bags. 

Let the pots and jars containing sweetmeats just made 
remain uncovered three days. 

Lay brandy papers over the top, cover them tight, and 
seal them, or, what is best of all, soak a split bladder 
and tie it tight over them. In drying, it will shrink so 
as to be perfectly air-tight. 

Keep them in a dry, but not warm place. 

A thick leathery mould helps to preserve fruit, but 
when mould appears in specks, the preserves must be 
scalded in a warm oven, or be set into hot water, which 
then must boil till the preserves are scalded. 

Always keep watch of preserves which are notgealed, 
especially in warm and damp weather. The only sure 
way to keep them without risk or care, is to make them 
with enough sugar and seal them, or tie bladder covers 
over. 

To Clarify Syrup for Sweetmeats. 

For each pound of sugar, allow half a pint of water. 
For every three pounds of sugar, allow the white of 
one egg. 



154 PRESERVES AND JELLIES. 

Mix when cold, boil a few minutes, and skim it. Let 
it stand ten minutes, and skim it, then strain it. 

Brandy Peaches. 

Prick the peaches with a needle, put them into a ket- 
tle with cold water, scald them until sufficiently soft to 
be penetrated with a straw. Take half a pound of su- 
gar to every pound of peach ; make the syrup with the 
sugar, and while it is a little warm, mix two-thirds as 
much of white brandy with it, put the fruit into jars, 
and pour the syrup over it. The late white clingstones 
are the best to use. 

Peaches {not very rich). 

To six pounds of fruit, put five of sugar. Make the 
syrup. Boil the fruit in the syrup till it is clear. If the 
fruit is ripe, half an hour will cook it sufficiently. 

Peaches {very elegant). 

First take out the stones, then pare them. To every 
pound of peaches, allow one-third of a pound of sugar. 
Make a thin syrup, boil the peaches in the syrup till ten- 
der, but not till they break. Put them into a bowl, and 
pour the syrup over them. Put them in a dry, cool 
place, and let them stand two days. Then make a new 
rich syrup, allowing three quarters of a pound of sugar 
to one of fruit. Drain the peaches from the first syrup, 
and boil them until they are clear, in the last syrup. 
The first syrup must not be added, but may be used for 
any odier purpose you please, as it is somewhat bitter. 
The Imge white clingstones are the best. 

To preserve Qitinces Whole. 

Select the largest and fairest quinces (as the poorer 
ones will answer for jelly). Take out the cores and 
pare them. Boil the quinces in water till tender. Take 
them out separately on a platter. To each pound of 
quince, allow a pound of sugar. Make the syrup, then 
boil the quinces in the syrup until clear. 



PRESERVES AND JELLIES. 155 

Quince Jelly. 

Rub the quinces with a cloth, until perfectly smooth. 
Remove the cores, cut them into small pieces, pack them 
tight in your kettle, pour cold water on them until it is 
on a level with the fruit, but not to cover it ; boil till 
very soft, but not till they break. 

Then clip off all the liquor you can, then put the 
fruit into a sieve, and press it, and drain off all the re-_ 
maining liquor. 

Then to a pint of the liquor add a pound of sugar, and 
boil it fifteen minutes. Pour it, as soon as cool, into 
small jars, or tumblers. Let it stand in the sun a few 
days, till it begins to dry on the top. It will continue to 
harden after it is put up. 

Calf's Foot Jelly. 

To four nicely-cleaned calf's feet, put four quarts of 
water ; "let it simmer gently till reduced to two quarts, 
then strain it, and let it stand all night. Then take off 
all the fat and sediment, melt it, add the juice, and put 
in the peel of three lemons, and a pint of wine, the whites 
of four eggs, three sticks of cinnamon, and sugar to your 
taste. Boil ten minutes, then slrim out the spice and 
lemon peel, and strain it. 

The American gelatine, now very common, makes as 
good jelly, with far less trouble, and in using it you only 
need to dissolve it in hot water, and then sweeten and 
flavor it. 

To preserve Apples. 

Take only tart and well-flavored apples, peel, and 
take out the cores without dividing them, and then 
parboil them. Make the syrup with the apple water, 
allowing three quarters of a pound of white sugar to 
every pound of apples, and boil some lemon peel and 
juice in the syrup. Pour the syrup, while boiling, on 
to the apples, turn them gently while cooking, and 
only let the syrup simmer, as hard boiling breaks the 



156 PRESERVES AND JELLIES. 

fruit. Take it out when the apple is tender through. 
At the end of a week boil them once more in the syrup. 

Pear. 

Take out the cores, cut off the stems, and pare them. 
Boil the pears in water, till they are tender. Watch 
them, that they do not break. Lay them separately on 
a platter as you take them out. To each pound of fruit, 
take a pound of sugar. Make the syrup, and boil the 
fruit in the syrup till clear. 

Pineapple (very fine). 

Pare and grate the pineapple. Take an equal quan- 
tity of fruit and sugar. Boil them slowly in a sauce- 
pan for half an hour. 

Purple Plum.— No. 1. 

Make a rich syrup. Boil the plums in the syrup very 
gently till they begin to crack open. Then take them 
from the syrup into a jar, and pour the syrup over them. 
Let them stand a few days, and then boil them a sec- 
ond time, very gently. 

To preserve Oranges. 

Boil the oranges in soft water till you can run a straw 
through the skin. 

Clarify three quarters of a pound of sugar for each 
pound of fruit, take the oranges from the water, and 
pour over them the hot syrup, and let them stand in it 
one night. Next day, boil them in the syrup till it is 
thick and clear. Then take them up, and strain the 
syrup on to them. 

Purple Plum. — No. 2. 

Take an equal weight of fruit, and nice brown su- 
gar. Take a clean stone jar, put in a layer of fruit and 
a layer of sugar, till all is in. Cover them tightly with 
dough, or other tight cover, and put them in a brick 



< 



PRESERVES AND JELLIES. 157 

oven after you have baked in it. If you bake in the 
morning, put the plums in the oven at evening, and 
let them remain till the next morning. When you 
bake again, set them in the oven as before. Uncover 
them, and stir them carefully with a spoon, and do as 
not to break them. Set them in the oven thus the 
third time, and they will be sufficiently cooked. 

White : or Green Plum. 

Put each one into boiling water, and rub off the skin. 
Allow a pound of fruit to a pound of sugar. Make a 
syrup of sugar and water. Boil the fruit in the syrup 
until clear, about twenty minutes. Let the syrup be 
cold before you pour it over the fruit. They can be 
preserved without taking off the skins, by pricking 
them. Some of the kernels of the stones boiled in give 
a pleasant flavor. 

Citron Melon. 

Two fresh lemons to a pound of melon. Let the su- 
gar be equal in weight to the lemon and melon. Take 
out the pulp of the melon, and cut it in thin slices, and 
boil it in fair water till tender. Take it out and boil 
the lemon in the same water about twenty minutes. 
Take out the lemon, add the sugar, and, if necessary, a 
little more w T ater. Let it boil. When clear, add the mel- 
on, and let it boil a few minutes. 

Strawberries. 

Look them over with care. Weigh a pound of sugar 
to each pound of fruit. Put a layer of fruit on the bot- 
tom of the preserving kettle, then a layer of sugar, and so 
on till all is in the pan. Boil them about fifteen minutes. 
Put them in bottles, hot, and seal them. Then put 
them in a box, and fill it in with dry sand. The flavor of 
the fruit is preserved more perfectly, by simply packing 
the fruit and sugar in alternate layers, and sealing the 

14 



158 PRESERVES AND JELLIES. 

jar, without cooking. But the preserves do not look so 
well. 

Blackberry Jam. 

Allow three quarters of a pound of brown sugar to a 
pound of fruit. Boil the fruit half an hour, then add 
the sugar, and boil all together ten minutes. 

To preserve Currants to eat with Meat. 

Strip them from the stem. Boil them an hour, and then 
to a pound of the fruit, add a pound of brown sugar. Boil 
all together fifteen or twenty minutes. 

Cherries. 

Take out the stones. To a pound of fruit, allow a 
pound of sugar. Put a layer of fruit on the bottom of 
the preserving kettle, then a layer of sugar, and continue 
thus till all are put in. Boil till clear. Put them in bottles, 
hot, and seal them. Keep them in dry sand. 

Currants. 

Strip them from the stems. Allow a pound of sugar 
to a pound of currants. Boil them together ten minutes. 
Take them from the syrup, and let the syrup boil twen- 
ty minutes, and pour it on the fruit. . Put them in small 
jars, or tumblers, and let them stand in the sun a few 
days. 

Raspberry Jam. — No. 1. 

Allow a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit. Press 
them with a spoon, in an earthen dish. Add the sugar, 
and boil all together fifteen minutes. 

Raspberry Jam. — No. 2. 

Allow a pound of sugar to a pound of fruit. Boil 
the fruit half an hour, or till the seeds are soft. Strain 
one quarter of the fruit, and throw away the seeds. 
Add the sugar, and boil the whole ten minutes. A lit- 



PRESERVES AND JELLIES. 159 

tie currant juice gives it a pleasant flavor, and when 
that is used, an equal quantity of sugar must be added. 

Currant Jelly. 

Pick over the currants with care. Put them in a 
stone jar, and set it into a kettle of boiling water. Let 
it boil till the fruit is very soft. Strain it through a 
sieve. Then run the juice through a jelly-bag. Put a 
pound of sugar to a pint of juice, and boil it together 
five minutes. Set it in the sun a few days. 

Quince Marmalade. 

Rub the quinces with a cloth, cut them in quarters. 
Put them on the fire with a little water, and stew them 
till they are sufficiently tender to rub them through a 
sieve. When strained, put a pound of brown sugar to 
a pound of the pulp. Set it on the fire, and let it cook 
slowly. To ascertain when it is done, take out a little 
and let it get cold, and if it cuts smoothly it is done. 

Crab-apple marmalade is made in the same way. 

Crab-apple jelly is made like quince jelly. 

Most other fruits are preserved so much like the pre- 
ceding, that it is needless to give any more particular 
directions, than to say that a pound of sugar to a pound 
of fruit is the general rule for all preserves that are to be 
kept through warm weather, and a long time. 

Preserved Watermelon Rinds. 

This is a fine article to keep well without trouble for a 
long time. Peel the melon, and boil it in just enough 
water to cover it till it is soft, trying with a fork. (If you 
wish it green, put green vine leaves above and below 
each layer, and scatter powdered alum, less than half a 
teaspoonful to each pound.) 

Allow a pound and a half of sugar to each pound of 
rind, and clarify it as directed previously. 

Simmer the rinds two hours in this syrup, and flavor 
it with lemon peel grated and tied in a bag. Then put 
the melon in a tureen, and boil the syrup till it looks 



160 PICKLES. 

thick, and pour it over. Next day, give the syrup an- 
other boiling, and put the juice of one lemon to each 
quart of syrup. Take care not to make it bitter by too 
much of the peel. 

Citrons are preserved in the same manner. Both 
these keep through hot weather with very little care in 
sealing and keeping. 

Preserved Pumpkin. 

Cut a thick yellow pumpkin, peeled, into strips two 
inches wide, and five or six long. 

Take a pound of white sugar for each pound of fruit, 
and scatter it over the fruit, and pour on two wine-glass- 
es of lemon juice for each pound of pumpkin. 

Next day, put the parings of one or two lemons with 
the fruit and sugar, and boil the whole three quarters of 
an hour, or long enough to make it tender and clear 
without breaking. Lay the pumpkin to cool, strain the 
syrup, and then pour it on to the pumpkin. 

If there is too much lemon peel, it will be bitter. 



CHAPTER XVII. 



PICKLES. 



Do not keep pickles in common earthen w T are, as the 
glazing contains lead, and combines with the vinegar. 

Vinegar for pickling should be sharp, but not the 
sharpest kind, as it injures the pickles. If you use cop- 
per, bell metal, or brass vessels for pickling, never allow 
the vinegar to cool in them, as it then is poisonous. Add 
a tablespoonful of alum and a tea-cup of salt to each 
three gallons of vinegar, and tie up a bag with pepper, 
ginger-root, and spices of all sorts in it, and you have 
vinegar prepared for any kind of common pickling. 

Keep pickles only in wood, or stone ware. 



PICKLES. 161 

Anything that has held grease will spoil pickles. 
Stir pickles occasionally, and if there are soft ones, 
take them out and scald the vinegar, and pour it hot 
over the pickles. Keep enough vinegar to cover them 
well. If it is weak, take fresh vinegar, and pour on hot. 
Do not boil vinegar or spice over five minutes. 

To Pickle Tomatoes. 

As you gather them, throw them into cold vinegar. 
When you have enough, take them out, and scald some 
spices tied in a bag, in good vinegar, and pour it hot 
over them. 

To Pickle Peaches. 

Take ripe but hard peaches, wipe off the down, stick 
a few cloves into them, and lay them in cold spiced vin- 
egar. In three months they will be sufficiently pickled, 
and also retain much of their natural flavor. 

To Pickle Peppers. 

Take green peppers, take the seeds out carefully, so 
as not to mangle them, soak them nine days in salt and 
water, changing it every day, and keep them in a warm 
place. Stuff them with chopped cabbage, seasoned with 
cloves, cinnamon, and mace ; put them in cold spiced 
vinegar. 

To Pickle Nasturtions. 

Soak them three days in salt and water as you col- 
lect them, changing it once in three days, and when 
you have enough, pour off the brine, and pour on scald- 
ing hot vinegar. 

To Pickle Onions. 

Peel, and boil in milk and water ten minutes, drain 
off the milk and water, and pour scalding spiced vinegar 
on to them. 

14* 



162 PICKLES. 

To Pickle Gherkins. 

Keep them in strong brine till they are yellow, then 
take them out and turn on hot spiced vinegar, and keep 
them in it in a warm place, till they turn green. Then 
turn off the vinegar, and add a fresh supply of hot t spi- 
ced vinegar. 

To Pickle Mushrooms. 

Stew them in salted water, just enough to keep them 
from sticking. When tender, pour off the water, and 
pour on hot spiced vinegar. Then cork them tight if 
you wish to keep them long. Poison ones will turn 
black if an onion is stewed with them, and then all 
must be thrown away. 

To Pickle Cucumbers. 

Wash the cucumbers in cold water, being careful not 
to bruise, or break them. Make a brine of rock, or 
blown salt (rock is the best), strong enough to bear up 
an egg, or potato, and of sufficient quantity to cover the 
cucumbers. 

Put them into an oaken tub, or stone-ware jar, and 
pour the brine over them. In twenty-four hours, they 
should be stirred up from the bottom with the hand. 
The third day pour oil the brine, scald it, and pour it 
over the cucumbers. Let them stand in the brine nine 
days, scalding it every third day, as described above. 
Then take the cucumbers into a tub, rinse them in cold 
water, and if they are too salt, let them stand in it a 
few hours. Drain them from the water, put them back 
into the tub or jar, which must be washed clean from 
the brine. Scald vinegar sufficient to cover them, and 
pour it upon them. Cover them tight, and in a week they 
will be ready for use. If spice is wanted, it maybe tied 
in a linen cloth, and put into the jar with the pickles, or 
scalded with the vinegar, and the bag thrown into the 
pickle jar. If a white scum rises, take it off and scald 
the vinegar, and pour it back. A small lump of alum 



PICKLES. 163 

added to the vinegar, improves the hardness of the cu- 
cumbers. 

Pickled Walnuts. 

Take a hundred nuts, an ounce of cloves, an ounce 
of allspice, an ounce of nutmeg, an ounce of whole pep- 
per, an ounce of race ginger, an ounce of horseradish, half 
pint of mustard seed, tied in a bag, and four cloves of 
garlic. 

Wipe the nuts, prick with a pin, and put them in a 
pot, sprinkling the spice as you lay them in ; then add 
two tablespoonfuls of salt ; boil sufficient vinegar to fill 
the pot, and pour it over the nuts and spice. Cover the 
jar close, and keep it for a year, when the pickles 
will be ready for use. 

Butternuts may be made in the same manner, if they 
are taken when green, and soft enough to be stuck 
through with the head of a pin. Put them for a week 
or two in weak brine, changing it occasionally. Before 
putting in the brine, rub them about with a broom in 
brine to cleanse the skins. Then proceed as for the 
walnuts. 

The vinegar makes an excellent catsup. 

Mangoes. 

Take the latest growth of young muskmelons, take 
out a small bit from one side, and empty them. Scrape 
the outside smooth, and soak them four days in strong 
salt and water. If you wish to green them, put vine 
leaves over and under, with bits of alum, and steam 
them a while. Then powder cloves, pepper, and nut- 
meg in equal portions, and sprinkle on the inside, and 
fill them with strips of horseradish, small bits of cala- 
mus, bits of cinnamon and mace, a clove or two, a very 
small onion, nasturtions, and then American mustard- 
seed to fill the crevices. Put back the piece cut out, and 
sew it on, and then sew the mango in cotton cloth. 
Lay all in a stone jar, the cut side upward. 

Boil sharp vinegar a few minutes, with half a tea-cup 
of salt, and a tablespoonful of alum to three gallons of 



164 PICKLES. 

vinegar, and turn it on to the melons. Keep dried bar 
berries for garnishes, and when you use them turn a lit- 
tle of the above vinegar of the mangoes heated boiling 
hot on to them, and let them swell a few hours. Sliced 
and salted cabbage with this vinegar poured on hot is 
very good. 

Fine Pickled Cabbage. 

Shred red and white cabbage, spread it in layers in a 
stone jar, with salt over each layer. Put two spoonfuls 
of whole black pepper, and the same quantity of allspice, 
cloves, and cinnamon, in a bag, and scald them in two 
quarts of vinegar, and pour the vinegar over the cab- 
bage, and cover it tight. Use it in two days after. 

An excellent Way of Preparing Tomatoes to eat 
with Meat. 

Peel and slice ripe tomatoes, sprinkling on a little salt 
as you proceed. Drain off the juice, and pour on hot 
spiced vinegar. 

To Pickle Martinoes. 

Gather them when you can run a pin head into 
them, and after wiping them, keep them ten days in 
weak brine, changing it every other day. Then wipe 
them, and pour over boiling spiced vinegar. In four 
weeks they will be ready for use. It is a fine pickle. 

A convenient Way to Pickle Cucumbers. 

Put some spiced vinegar in a jar, with a little salt in it. 

Every time you gather a mess, pour boiling vinegar 
on them, with a little alum in it. Then put them in 
the spiced vinegar. Keep the same vinegar for scald- 
ing all. When you have enough, take all from the 
spiced vinegar, and scald in the alum vinegar two or 
three minutes, till green, and then put them back in 
the spiced vinegar. 

Indiana Pickles. 

Take green tomatoes, and slice them. Put them in 



ARTICLES FOR DESSERTS, ETC. 165 

a basket to drain in layers, with salt scattered over them, 
say a tea-cup full to each gallon. Next day, slice one 
quarter the quantity of onions, and lay the onions and 
tomatoes in alternate layers in a jar, with spices inter- 
vening. Then fill the jar with cold vinegar. Toma- 
toes picked as they ripen, and just thrown into cold 
spiced vinegar, are a fine pickle, and made with very 
little trouble. 

To Pickle Caidifloujer, or Brocoli. 

Keep them twenty- four hours in strong brine, and 
then take them out and heat the brine, and pour it on 
scalding hot, and let them stand till next day. Drain 
them, and throw them into spiced vinegar. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 

ARTICLES FOR DESSERTS AND EVENING PARTIES. 

Ice Cream. 

One quart of milk. 

One and a half tablespoonfuls of arrowroot. 

The grated peel of two lemons. 

One quart of thick cream. 

Wet the arrowroot with a little cold milk, and add it to 
the quart of milk when boiling hot ; sweeten it very 
sweet with white sugar, put in the grated lemon peel, 
boil the whole, and strain it into the quart of cream. 
When partly frozen, add the juice of the two lemons. 
Twice this quantity is enough for thirty-five persons. 
Find the quantity of sugar that suits you by measure, 
and then you can use this every time, without tasting. 
Some add whites of eggs, others think it just as good 
without. It must be made very sweet, as it loses much 
by freezing. 



166 ARTICLES FOR DESSERTS 

Directions for freezing Ice Cream. 

If you have no apparatus for the purpose (which is 
almost indispensable), put the cream into a tin pail with 
a very tight cover, mix equal quantities of snow and 
blown salt (not the coarse salt), or of pounded ice and salt, 
in a tub, and put it as high as the pail, or freezer ; 
turn the pail or freezer half round and back again with 
one hand, for half an hour, or longer, if you want it very 
nice. Three quarters of an hour steadily, will make it 
good enough. While doing this, stop four or five times, 
and mix the frozen part with the rest, the last time very 
thoroughly, and then the lemon juice must be put in. 
Then cover the freezer tight with snow and salt till it is 
wanted. The mixture must be perfectly cool before be- 
ing put in the freezer. Renew the snow and salt while 
shaking, so as to have it kept tight to the sides of the 
freezer. A hole in the tub holding the freezing mixture 
to let off the water, is a great advantage. In a tin pail 
it would take much longer to freeze than in the freezer, 
probably nearly twice as long, or one hour atid a half. 
A long stick, like a coffee stick, should be used in scra- 
ping the ice from the sides. Iron spoons will be affected 
by the lemon juice, and give a bad taste. 

In taking it out for use, first wipe off every particle of 
the freezing mixture dry, then with a knife loosen the 
sides, then invert the freezer upon the dish in which the ice 
is to be served, and apply two towels rung out of hot 
water to the bottom part, and the whole will slide out in 
the shape of a cylinder. 

If you wish to put it into moulds, pour it into them 
when the cream is frozen sufficiently, and then cover 
the moulds in the snow and salt till they are wanted. 
Dip the moulds in warm water to make the ice slip out 
easily. 

If you wish to have a freezer made, send the follow- 
ing directions to a tinner. 

Make a tin cylinder box, eighteen inches high and 
eight inches in diameter at the bottom, and a trifle lar- 
ger at the top, so that the frozen cream will slip out easier. 



AND EVENING PARTIES. ] G7 

Have a cover made with a rim to lap over three inches, 
and fitted tight. Let there be a round handle fastened to 
the lid, an inch in diameter, and reaching nearly across, 
to take hold of, to stir the cream. This will cost from 
fifty to seventy-five cents. 

The tub holding the ice and freezer should have a 
hole in the bottom, to let the water run oflf, and through the 
whole process the ice must be close packed the whole 
depth of the freezer. 

Philadelphia Ice Cream. 

Two quarts of milk (cream when you have it). 

Three tablespoonfuls of arrowroot. 

The whites of eight eggs well beaten. 

One pound of powdered sugar. 

Boil the milk, thicken it with the arrowroot, add the 
sugar, and pour the whole upon the eggs. If you wish 
it flavored with vanilla, split half a bean, and boil it in 
the milk. 

Another Ice Cream. 

Three quarts of milk. 

Two pounds and a half of powdered sugar. 

Twelve eggs, well beaten. 

Mix all together in a tin pail, add one vanilla bean 
(split), then put the pail into a kettle of boiling water, and 
stir the custard all the time, until it is quite thick. After it 
is cooled, add two quarts of rich cream, and then freeze it. 

Strawberry Ice Cream. 

Rub a pint of ripe strawberries through a sieve, add 
a pint of cream, and four ounces of powdered sugar, and 
freeze it. 

Ice Cream without Cream. 

A vanilla bean, or a lemon rind, is first boiled in a 
quart of milk. Take out the bean or peel, and add the 
yolks of four eggs, beaten well. Heat it scalding hot, 



188 ARTICLES FOF. DESSERTS 

but do not boil it, stirring in white sugar till very sweet. 
When cold, freeze it. 

Fruit Ice Cream. 

Make rich boiled custard, and mash into it the soft ripe 
fruit, or the grated or cooked hard fruit, or grated pineap- 
ples. Rub all through a sieve, sweeten it very sweet, and 
freeze it. Quince, apple, pear, peach, strawberry, and 
raspberry, are all good for this purpose. 

Rich Custards. 

One quart of cream. 

The yolks of six eggs. 

Six ounces of powdered white sugar. 

A small pinch of salt. 

Two tablespoonfuls of brandy. 

One spoonful of peach water. 

Half a tablespoonful of lemon brandy. 

An ounce of blanched almonds, pounded to a paste. 

Mix the cream with the sugar, and the yolks of the 
eggs well beaten, scald them together in a tin pail in 
boiling water, stirring all the time, until sufficiently 
thick. When cool, add the other ingredients, and pour 
into custard cups. 

Wine Cream Custard. 

Sweeten a pint of cream with sifted sugar, heat it, stir 
in white wine till it curdles, add rose water, or grated 
lemon peel in a bag, heated in the milk. Turn it into 
cups. 

Or, mix a pint of milk with the pint of cream, add 
five beaten eggs, a spoonful of flour wet with milk, and 
sugar to your taste. Bake this in cups, or pie plates. 

Almond Custard. 

Blanch and pound four ounces of sweet almonds, and 
a few of the bitter. Boil them five minutes in a quart 
of milk, sweeten to your taste, and when blood warm, 
stir in the beaten yolks of eight eggs, and the whites of 



4ND EVENING PARTIES. 169 

four. Heal it, and stir till it thickens, then pour into 
cups. Cut the reserved whites to a stiff froth, and put 
on the top. 

A Cream for Stewed Fruit. 

Boil two or three peach leaves, or a vanilla bean, in a 
quart of cream, or milk, till flavored. Strain and sweet- 
en it, mix it with the yolks of four eggs, well beaten ; 
then, while heating it, add the whites cut to a froth. 
When it thickens, take it up. When cool, pour it over 
the fruit, or preserves. 

Currant, Raspberry, or Strawberry Whisk. 

Put three gills of the juice of the fruit to ten ounces 
of crushed sugar, add the juice of a lemon, and a pint 
and a half of cream. Whisk it till quite thick, and serve 
it in jelly glasses, or a glass dish. 

Lemonade Ice, and other Ices. 

To a quart of lemonade, add the whites of six eggs, 
cut to a froth, and freeze it. The juices of any fruit, 
sweetened and watered, may be prepared in the same 
way, and are very fine. 

Lemon and Orange Cream. 

Grate the outer part of the rind of eight oranges, or 
lemons, into a pint of cold water, and let it stand from 
night till morning. Add the juice of two dozen of the 
fruit, raid another pint of cold water. Beat the yolks of 
six eggs, and add the whites of sixteen eggs, cut to a 
tiff froth. Strain the juice into the egg. Set it over 
he fire, and stir in fine white sugar, till quite sweet. 
When it begins to thicken, take it off, and stir till it 
is cold. Serve it in glasses, or freeze it. 

Vanilla Cream. 

Boil a vanilla bean in a quart of rich milk, till flavor- 
ed to your taste. Beat the yolks of eight eggs, and stir 
in, then sweeten well, and lastlv, add the whites of the 

15 



170 ARTICLES FOR DESSERTS 

eggs, cut to a stiff froth. Boil till it begins to thicken, 
then stir till cold, and serve in glasses, or freeze it. 

A Charlotte Russe. 

Half a pint of milk, and half a vanilla bean boiled in 
it, and then cooled and strained. 

Four beaten yolks of eggs, and a quarter of a pound 
of powdered loaf sugar stirred into the milk. Simmer 
five minutes, and cool it. 

An ounce of Russia isinglass boiled in a pint of wa- 
ter till reduced one half, and strained into the above cus 
tard. 

Whip a rich cream to a frcth, and stir into the cus- 
tard. 

The preceding is for the custard that is to fill the 
form. 

Prepare the form thus : — Take a large round, or oval 
sponge cake, three or four inches thick, with perpendic- 
ular sides. Cut off the bottom about an inch thick, or 
a little less, and then turn it bottom upwards into a form 
of the same size and shape. Then dig out the cake till 
it is a shell, an inch thick, or less. Fill the opening 
with the custard, and cover it with the slice cut from 
the bottom. Then set it into a tub of pounded ice and 
salt, for forty minutes, being careful not to get any on 
to the cake. When ready to use it, turn it out of the 
form on to a flat oval dish, and ornament the top with 
frosting, or syringe on it candy sugar, in fanciful forms. 
This can be made by fitting slices of sponge cake nicely 
into a form, instead of using a whole cake. 

A Plainer Charlotte Russe. 

Half an ounce of Russia isinglass, or a little more. 

Half a pint of milk, and a pint of thick cream. 

Four eggs. Three ounces sifted white sugar. 

A gill and a half of white wine. 

Boil the isinglass in the milk, flavoring with vanilla 
or lemon. Stir the sugar into the yolks of the eggs. 
Put the wine to the cream, and beat them to a froth. 



AND EVENING PARTIES. 171 

Then strain the isinglass into the yolks, then add the 
cream and wine, and last of all the whites of the eggs 
cut to a stiff froth. Then line a dish with sponge cake, 
making the pieces adhere with whites of eggs, and pour 
in the above. 

A Superior Omelette fSouflee. 

Take eight eggs. Put the whites on one plate, and 
the yolks on another (two persons do it better than one) ; 
beat up the whites to a perfect froth, and at the same 
time stir the yolks with finely-powdered sugar, flavored 
with a little lemon peel, grated. Then, while stirring 
the whites, pour the yolks into the whites, stir them a 
little (but not beat them). Then pour all on a round 
tin plate, and put it in the oven ; when it begins to rise 
a little, draw it to the mouth of the oven, and with a 
spoon pile it up in a pyramidal shape, and leave it a few 
minutes longer in the oven. The whole baking requires 
but three or four minutes, and should be done just as 
wanted for the table. 

Almond Cheese Cake. 

Three w r ell-beaten eggs. 

A pint of new milk, boiling while the eggs are mix- 
ed in. 

Half a glass of wine, poured in while boiling. 

On adding the wine, take it from the fire, strain off 
the whey, and put to the curds sifted white sugar, 
to your taste, three eggs, well beaten, a teaspoonful 
of rose water, half a pound of sweet almonds, and a doz- 
en of bitter ones, all blanched and pounded, and sixteen 
even spoonfuls of melted butter. Pour this into patties 
lined with thin pastry. Ornament the top with Zante 
currants, and almonds cut in thin slips. Bake as soon as 
done. 

Flummery. 

Cut sponge cake into thin slices, and line a deep dish. 
Make it moist with white wine ; make a rich custard, 



172 ARTICLES FOR DESSERTS 

using only the yolks of the eggs. When cool, turn it 
into the dish, and cut the whites to a stiff froth, and put 
on the top. 

Chicken Salad. 

Cut the white meat of chickens into small bits, the 
size of peas. 

Chop the white parts of celery nearly as small. 

Prepare a dressing thus : — 

Rub the yolks of hard-boiled eggs smooth, to each 
yolk put half a teaspoonful of mustard, the same quan- 
tity of salt, a tablespoonful of oil, and a wine-glass of 
vinegar. Mix the chicken and celery in a large bowl, 
and pour over this dressing. 

The dressing must not be put on till just before it is 
used. Bread and butter and crackers are served with it. 

Gelatine^ or American Isinglass Jelly. 

Two ounces of American isinglass, or gelatine. 

One quart of boiling water. 

A pint and a half of white wine. 

The whites of three eggs. 

Soak the gum in cold water half an hour. Then 
take it from the water, and pour on the quart of boiling 
water. When cooled, add the grated rind of one lemon, 
and the juice of two, and a pound and a half of loaf su- 
gar. Then beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, 
and stir them in, and let the whole boil till the egg is 
well mixed, but do not stir while it boils. Strain through 
a jelly-bag, and then add the wine. 

Wine jelly is made thus, except that half a pint more 
of wine is added. 

In cold weather, a pint more of water may be added. 
This jelly can be colored by beet juice, saffron, or indigo^ 
for fancy dishes. 

Oranges in Jelly. 

Peel and divide into halves several small-size oranges ; 
boil them in water till a straw will pierce them, then put 



AND EVENING PARTIES. 173 

them into a syrup made of half a pound of sugar for each 
pound of fruit, and boil the oranges in it till clear. Then 
stir in an ounce, or more, of clarified isinglass, and let it 
boil a little while. Take the oranges into a dish, and 
strain the jelly over. Lemons may be done the same 
way. 

Jelly Tarts. 

One pound of sifted flour. 

Three quarters of a pound of butter, rubbed in well. 

Wet it up with about a pint of cold water, in which a 
bit of sal volatile, the size of a large pea dissolved in 
a little cold water, has been put. Beat the whole with a 
rolling-pin, cut it into round cakes, wet the tops with 
beaten egg, and strew on fine white sugar. Bake in a 
quick oven, and when done put a spoonful of jelly in the 
centre of each. 

Sweet Paste Jelly Tarts. 

A pint of dried and sifted flour. 

A pint of sifted sugar. 

Two-thirds of a pint of sweet butter. 

A bit of sal volatile, the size of two large peas, dissolv- 
ed in a tablespoonful of cold water. 

Mix the butter and sugar to a cream, work in the 
flour, add the sal volatile, and cold water, if needed, for 
making a paste to roll. Beat the whole with a rolling- 
pin, roll it half an inch thick, cut it with a tumbler, wet 
the tops with milk, put them on buttered tins into a 
quick oven, and when done, heap a spoonful of jelly on 
the centre of each. 

They are excellent for a dessert, or for evening parties. 

An Apple Lemon Pudding. 

Six spoonfuls of grated, or of cooked and strained ap- 
ple. Three lemons, pulp, rind, and juice, all grated. 
Half a pound of melted butter. Sugar to the taste. 
Seven eggs, well beaten. 

Mix, and bake with or without paste. It can be made 

15* 



174 ARTICLES FOR DESSERTS 

still plainer by using nine spoonfuls of apple, one lemon, 
two-thirds of a cup full of butter, and three eggs. 

Buttermilk Pop. 

Rub an ounce of butter into a tea-cup of flour, wet it 
up to a thin paste with cold buttermilk, and pour it into 
two quarts of boiling fresh buttermilk. Salt to the 
taste. 

Wheat Flour Blanc Mange. 

Wet up six tablespoonfuls of flour to a thin paste, 
with cold milk, and stir it into a pint of boiling milk. 
Flavor with lemon peel, or peach leaves boiled in the 
milk. Add a pinch of salt, cool it in a mould, and eat 
W T ith sweetened cream and sweetmeats. 

Orange Marmelade. 

Take two lemons, arid a dozen oranges ; grate the 
yellow part of all the oranges but five, and set it aside. 
Make a clear syrup of an equal weight of sugar. Clear 
the oranges of rind and seeds, and put them with the 
grated rinds into the syrup, and boil about twenty min- 
utes, till it is a transparent mass. 

A Simple Lemon Jelly {easily made). 

One ounce of cooper's isinglass. A pound and a halt 
of loaf sugar. Three lemons, pulp, skin, and juice, 
grated. 

Pour a quart of boiling water on to the isinglass, add 
the rest, mix and strain it, then add a glass of wine, 
and pour it to cool in some regular form. If the lemons 
are not fresh, add a little cream of tartar, or tartaric acid. 
American gelatine is used for this. 

Cranberry. 

Pour boiling water on them, and then you can easi- 
ly separate the good and the bad. Boil them in a very 
little water till soft, then sweeten to your taste. If you 



AND EVENING PARTIES. 175 

wish a jelly, take a portion and strain through a fine 
sieve. 

Fruits Preserved without Cooking. 

Pineapples peeled and cut in thin slices, with layers 
of sugar under and over each slice, will keep without 
cooking, and the flavor is fully preserved. Use a pound 
and a half of sugar for each pound of fruit. 

duinces peeled and boiled soft, and then laid in sugar, 
pound to a pound, in the same way, are very beautiful. 

Apple Ice (very fine). 

Take finely-flavored apples, grate them fine, and then 
make them very sweet, and freeze them. It is very de- 
licious. 

Pears, peaches, or quinces, also are fine either grated 
fine or stewed and run through a sieve, then sweetened 
very sweet and frozen. The flavor is much better pre- 
served when grated than when cooked. 

Le?non, or Orange Ice Cream. 

Squeeze a dozen lemons, and make the juice thick 
with sugar ; then stir in slowly three quarts of cream, 
and freeze it. Oranges require less sugar. 

Cream Tarts. 

One pound of sifted flour, and a salt spoon of salt. 

A quarter of a pound of rolled sugar. 

A quarter of a pound of butter, and one beaten egg. 

Sal volatile the size of a nutmeg, dissolved in a spoon- 
ful of cold water. Mix the above, and wet up with cold 
water, and line some small patties, or tartlet pans. Bake 
in a quick oven, then fill with mock cream, sprinkle 
on powdered sugar, put them back into the oven a few 
minutes till a little browned. 

Whip Syllabub. 

One pint of cream. 

Sifted white sugar to your taste. 

Half a tumbler of white wine. 



§ 



176 ARTICLES FOR DESSERTS 

The grated rind and juice of one lemon. 
Beat all to a stiff froth. 

Trifles. 

One well-beaten egg, and one tablespoonful of sugar. 

A salt spoonful of salt, and flour enough for a stiff 
dough. 

Cut it in thin round cakes, and fry in lard ; when they 
rise to the surface and are turned over, they are done. 
Drain on a sieve, and put jam or jelly on the centre of 
each. 

Nothings. 

Three well-beaten eggs, a salt spoonful of salt, and 
flour enough for a very stiff paste. Roll and cut into 
very thin cakes, fry them like trifles, and put two to- 
gether Avith jam, or jelly between. 

Apple Snow. 

Put twelve very tart apples in cold water over a slow 
fire. When soft, take away the skins and cores, and 
mix in a pint of sifted white sugar ; beat the whites of 
twelve eggs to a stiff froth, and then add them to the 
apples and sugar. Put it in a dessert dish, and orna- 
ment with myrtle and box. 

Iced Fruit. 

Take fine bunches of currants on the stalk, dip them 
in well-beaten whites of eggs, lay them on a sieve and sift 
white sugar over them, and set them in a warm place to 
dry. 

Ornamental Froth. 

The whites of four eggs in a stiff froth, put into the 
syrup of preserved raspberries, or strawberries, beaten 
well together, and turned over ice cream, or blanc mange. 
Make white froth to combine with the colored in fanci- 
ful ways. It can be put on the top of boiling milk, and 
hardened to keep its form. 



AND EVENING PARTIES. 177 

To Clarify Isinglass. 

Dissolve an ounce of isinglass in a cup of boiling wa- 
ter, take off the scum, and drain through a coarse cloth. 
Jellies, candies, and blanc mange should be done in brass, 
and stirred with silver. 

Blanc Mange. 

A pint of cream, and a quart of boiled milk. 

An ounce and a half of clarified isinglass, stirred into 
the milk. Sugar to your taste. 

A teaspoonful of fine salt. 

Flavor with lemon, or orange, or rose water. 

Let it boil, stirring it well, then strain into moulds. 

Three ounces of almonds pounded to a paste and ad- 
ded while boiling, is an improvement. Or filberts, or 
hickory-nuts, can be skinned and used thus. 

It can be flavored by boiling in it a vanilla bean, or a 
stick of cinnamon. Save the bean to use again. 

Calf's Foot Blanc Mange. 

Take a pint of calf's foot jelly, or American isinglass 
jelly, and put it in a sauce-pan, with the beaten yolks of 
six eggs, and stir till it begins to boil. Then sweeten 
and flavor to your taste ; set it in a pan of cold water, 
and stir it till nearly cold, to prevent curdling, and when 
it begins to thicken, put it into moulds. 

Variegated Blanc Mange. 

For evening parties a pretty ornamental variety can 
be made thus. 

Color the blanc mange in separate parcels, red, with 
juice of boiled beets, or cochineal ; yellow, with saffron ; 
and blue, with indigo. 

Put in a layer of white, and when cool, a layer of 
another color, and thus as many as you like. You can 
arrange it in moulds thus, or in a dish, and when cold 
cut it in fanciful shapes. 



178 ARTICLES FOR DESSERTS 

Jaune Mange, 

Boil an ounce of isinglass in a little more than half a 
pint of water, till dissolved ; strain it, add the juice and 
a little of the grated rind of two oranges, a gill of white 
wine, the yolks of four eggs, beaten and strained, and 
sugar to your taste. Stir over a gentle fire till it just 
boils, and then strain into a mould. 

Ivory Dust Jelly. 

Boil a pound of the dust in five pints of water, till re- 
duced to one quart, strain it, add a quart more of water, 
boil till a stiff jelly, then add lemon, or orange juice and 
rind, and sugar to your taste, and strain into moulds. 

Apple Jelly. 

Boil tart, peeled apples in a little water, till glutinous, 
strain out the juice, and put a pound of white sugar to 
a pint of the juice. Flavor to your taste, boil till a good 
jelly, and then put it into moulds. 

Another Lemon Jelly. 

Take the clear juice of twelve lemons, and a pound of 
fine loaf sugar, and a quart of water. For each quart 
of the above mixture, put in an ounce of clarified isin- 
glass, let it boil up once, and strain into moulds. If not 
stiff enough, add more isinglass, and boil again. 

Orange Jelly. 

The juice of nine oranges and three lemons. 

The grated rind of one lemon, and one orange, pared 
thin. 

Two quarts of water, and four ounces of isinglass, 
broken up and boiled in it to a jelly. 

Add the above, and sweeten to your taste. Then add 
the whites of eight eggs, well beaten to a stiff froth, and 
boil ten minutes, strain and put into moulds, first dip- 
ped in cold water. When perfectly cold, dip the mould 
in warm water, and turn on to a glass dish. 




AND -EVENING PARTIES. 179 

Floating Island. 

Beat the yolks of six eggs with the juice of four 
lemons, sweeten it to your taste, and stir it into a quart 
of boiling milk till it thickens, then pour it into a dish. 
Whip the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, and put it 
on the top of the cream. 

Another Syllabub. 

The juice and grated outer skin of a large lemon. 
Four glasses of white wine. 
A quarter of a pound of sifted white sugar. 
Mix the above, and let them stand some hours. 
Then whip it, adding a pint of thick cream, and the 
whites of two eggs cut to a froth. 

An Ornamental Dish. 

Pare and core, without splitting, some small-sized tart 
apples, and boil them very gently with one lemon for 
every six apples, till a straw will pass through them. 

Make a syrup of half a pound of white sugar for each 
pound of apples, put the apples unbroken, and the lemons 
sliced, into the syrup, and boil gently till the apples look 
clear. Then take them up carefully, so as not to break 
them, and add an ounce, or more, of clarified isinglass to 
the syrup, and let it boil up. Then lay a slice of lemon 
on each apple, and strain the syrup over them. 

Carrageen Blanc Mange [Irish Moss). 

Take one tea-cup full of Carrageen, or Irish moss, af- 
ter it has been carefully picked over. Wash it thorough- 
ly in pearl ash water, to take out the saline taste ; then 
rinse it in several waters, put it in a tin pail, and pour 
to it a quart of milk. Set the pail, closely covered, into 
a kettle of boiling water. Let it stand until the moss 
thickens the milk, then strain through a fine sieve, sweet- 
en with powdered loaf sugar, and flavor with rose or 
lemon. Wet the moulds in cold water, then pour in the 
blanc mange, and set it in a cool place. In two, or 
three hours, or when quite firm, it may be used. Loos- 



180 ARTICLES FOR DESSERTS 

en the edges from the moulds, and then turn it out upon 
china or glass plates. It may be served with powdered 
sugar and cream. 

A Dish of Snow. 

Grate the white part of cocoanut, put it in a glass 
dish and serve with currant or cranberry jellies 

To Clarify Sugar. 

Take four pounds of sugar, and break it up. 

Whisk the white of an egg, and put it with a tum- 
blerful of water into a preserving pan, and add water 
gradually, till you have two quarts, stirring well. When 
there is a good frothing, throw in the sugar, boil moder- 
ately, and skim it. If the sugar rises to run over, throw 
in a little cold water, and then skim it, as it is then still. 
Repeat this, and when no more scum rises, strain the 
sugar for use. 

To Prepare Sugar for Candies. 

Put a coffee cup of water for each pound of sugar, 
into a brass, or copper kettle, over a slow fire. Put in, 
for each pound, say half a sheet of isinglass, and half a 
teaspoonful of gum-arabic, dissolved together. Skim off 
all impurities, and flavor to your taste. 

All sugar for candy is prepared thus, and then boiled 
till, when drawn into strings and cooled, it snaps like 
glass. 

A little hot rum, or vinegar, must be put to loaf sugar 
candy, to prevent its being too brittle. 

Candies made thus, can be colored with boiled beet 
juice, saffron, and indigo, and it can be twisted, rolled, 
and cut into any forms. 

It can have cocoanut, almonds, hickory-nuts, Brazil, or 
peanuts, sliced, or chopped and put in. 

It can be flavored with vanilla, rose, lemon, orange, 
cloves, cinnamon, or anything you please. 

Sugar Kisses. 

Whisk four whites of eggs to a stiff froth, and stir in 



AND EVENING PARTIES. 131 

half a pound of sifted white sugar, and flavor it as you 
like. 

Lay it, when stiff, in heaps, on white paper, each the 
shape and size of half an egg, and an inch apart. Place 
them on a board which is half an inch thick, and put 
them into a hot oven. When they turn a little yellow- 
ish, slip off the paper on to a table, and let them cool five 
minutes. Then slip off two of the kisses with a knife, 
and join the bottom parts together which touched the 
paper, and they, if pressed gently, will adhere. Then 
lay them on a plate, and continue till all are thus pre- 
pared. These look handsomely, and are very delicate 
and good. 

Almond Macaroons. 

Half a pound of almonds blanched, and pounded with 
a teaspoon ful of essence of lemon till a smooth paste. 

Add an equal quantity of sifted white sugar, and the 
beaten whites of two eggs. Work well together with a 
spoon. 

Dip your hand in water, and work them into balls 
the size of a nutmeg, lay them on white paper, an inch 
apart ; then dip your hand in water, and smooth them. 
Put them in a cool oven for three quarters of an hour. 

Cocoanut can be grated and used in place of the al- 
monds, and thus make cocoanut macaroons. 

Filbert Macaroons. 

Heat a quarter of a pound of filbert meats till the skin 
will rub off, and when cold pound them, and make a 
paste with a little white of an egg, add a quarter of a 
pound of white sifted sugar, and the white of an egg ; 
when well mixed, bake them like almond macaroons. 

Flour macaroons look as well, and are nearly as good. 
To make them, work a pint of sifted white sugar into 
one beaten egg^ till a smooth paste, and add a little sifted 
flour, so as to mould it in your hands. Flavor with es- 
sence of lemon, or rose water, and proceed as with al- 
mond macaroons. 

16 



182 ARTICLES FOR DESSERTS AND EVENING PARTIES. 

Cocoanut Drops. 

The white part of a cocoanut, grated. 

The whites of four eggs, well beaten. 

Half a pound of sifted white sugar. 

Flavor with rose water, or essence of lemon. 

Mix all as thick as can be stirred, lay in heaps an inch 
apart, on paper, and on a baking tin ; put them in a 
quick oven, and take them out when they begin to look 
yellowish. 

Candied Fruits. 

Preserve the fruit, then dip it in sugar boiled to candy 
thickness, and then dry it. Grapes and some other fruits 
may be dipped in uncooked, and then dried, and they 
are fine. 

Another Way. 

Take it from the syrup, when preserved, dip it in pow- 
dered sugar, and set it on a sieve in an oven to dry. 

To make an Ornamental Pyramid for a Table. 

Boil loaf sugar as for candy, and rub it over a stiff 
form, made for the purpose, of stiff paper, which must be 
well buttered. Set it on a table, and begin at the bot- 
tom, and stick on to this frame, with the sugar, a row of 
macaroons, kisses, or other ornamental articles, and con- 
tinue till the whole is covered. When cold, draw out 
the pasteboard form, and set the pyramid in the centre 
of the table with a small bit of wax candle burning with 
it and it looks very beautifully. 



TEMPERANCE DRINKS. 183 



CHAPTER XIX. 



TEMPERANCE DRINKS. 



The advocates of entire abstinence from intoxica- 
ting drinks seem to be divided into three classes. One 
class consider it to be a sin in itself, to take anything 
that contains the intoxicating principle. 

Another class adopt the temperance pledge on the 
principle urged by St. Paul in 1 Cor. 8 : 13, and engage 
not to use intoxicating drinks as a beverage, nor to of- 
fer them to others, and maintain that though neither 
their pledge nor divine command requires more than this, 
yet that, to avoid the appearance of evil, they will not 
use any kind of alcoholic liquors for any purpose. Such 
will not employ it in cooking, nor keep it in their houses. 

The third class believe that the wisest course is to 
adopt the pledge "not to use, or offer to others intoxica- 
ting drinks as a beverage," and strictly to adhere, both to 
the spirit and letter of this pledge, but not to go beyond 
it. Such think it proper to use wine and brandy in 
cooking, and occasionally for medicinal purposes, and 
suppose that the cause of temperance will be best pro- 
moted by going no farther. The writer belongs to this 
last class, and therefore has not deemed it desirable to 
omit or alter receipts in which wine and brandy are em- 
ployed for cooking 

It has now become almost universal, in the medical 
profession, to maintain the principle, that alcoholic drinks, 
except as medicine, are never needful, but as the gene- 
ral rule, are always injurious. And they consider that 
those cases where the use of them seems to involve no 
evil, should be regarded as owing to the fact that a strong 
constitution, or some peculiarity of temperament, can oc- 
casionally resist the evil influence for a certain length of 






184 TEMPERANCE DRINKS. 

time, just as some persons, by similar causes, are sustain- 
ed in health in a malaria district. 

But none can tell how long a good constitution will re- 
sist the baleful operation of alcohol or malaria, nor are 
these exceptions any argument in favor either of in- 
toxicating drinks or a pestilential atmosphere. 

The great abundance of delicious and healthful drinks 
that are within reach, leaves no excuse for resorting to 
such as are pernicious. The following receipts furnish 
a great variety, and many of them are very easily and 
cheaply obtained. 

In regard to effervescing drinks, Dr. Pereira remarks : 

" Water charged with carbonic acid forms a cool and 
refreshing beverage. It acts as a diaphoretic and diu- 
retic (i. e., to promote perspiration and the healthful action 
of the kidneys), and is a most valuable agent for check- 
ing nausea and vomiting. When it contains bicarbo- 
nate of soda in solution, it proves antacid, and is a most 
valuable beverage for persons afflicted with calculi in the 
bladder/' 

The following receipts may be tried in succession, and 
some among them will suit the taste of every one. Some 
of the receipts for drinks for the sick are also very fine 
for common use. « 

Ginger Beer Powders, and Soda Powders. 

Put into blue papers, thirty grains to each paper, of 
bicarbonate of soda, five grains of powdered ginger, and a 
drachm of white powdered sugar. Put into white papers, 
twenty-five grains to each, of powdered tartaric acid. 

Put one paper of each kind to half a pint of water. 
The common soda powders of the shops are like the 
above, when the sugar and ginger are omitted. 

Soda powders can be kept on hand, and the water in 
which they are used can be flavored with any kind of 
syrup or tincture, and thus make a fine drink for hot 
weather. 

Currant Ice Water. 
Press the juice from ripe currants, strain it, and put a 



TEMPERANCE DRINKS. 185 

pound of sugar to each pint of juice. Put it into bottles, 
cork and seal it, and keep it in a cool, dry place. When 
wanted, mix it with ice water for a drink. Or put wa- 
ter with it, make it very sweet, and freeze it. Freez- 
ing always takes away much of the sweetness. 

The juices of other acid fruits can be used in the same 
way. 

Sarsaparilla Mead. 

One pound of Spanish sarsaparilla. Boil it in four 
gallons of water five hours, and add enough water to 
have two gallons. Add sixteen pounds of sugar, and 
ten ounces of tartaric acid. 

To make a tumbler of it, take half a wine-glass of the 
above, and then fill with water, and put in half a tea- 
spoonful of soda. 

Effervescing Fruit Drinks. 

Very fine drinks for summer are prepared by putting 
strawberries, raspberries, or blackberries into good vine- 
gar and then straining it off, and adding a new supply of 
fruit till enough flavor is secured, as directed in Straw- 
berry Vinegar. Keep the vinegar bottled, and in hot 
weather use it thus. Dissolve half a teaspoon ful or less 
of saleratus, or soda in a tumbler, very little water till 
the lumps are all out. Then fill the tumbler two-thirds 
full of water, and then add the fruit vinegar. If several 
are to drink, put the soda, or saleratus into the pitcher, 
and then put the fruit vinegar into each tumbler, and 
pour the alkali water from the pitcher into each tum- 
bler, as each person is all ready to drink, as delay 
spoils it. 

Effervescing Jelly Drinks. 

"When jams or jellies are too old to be good for table 
use, mix them with good vinegar, and then use them 
with soda, or saleratus, as directed above. 

Summer Beverage. 

Ten drops of oil of sassafras. Ten drops of oil of 

16* 



186 TEMPERANCE DRINKS. 

spruce. Ten drops of oil of wintergreen. Two quarts 
of boiling water poured on to twx> great spoonfuls of 
cream tartar. Then add eight quarts of cold water, 
the oils, three gills of distillery yeast (or twice as much 
home-brewed), and sweeten it to the taste. In twenty- 
four hours, bottle it, and it is a delicious beverage. 

Simple Ginger Beer. 

One great spoonful of ginger and one of cream tartar. 
One pint of home-brewed yeast and one pint of molas- 
ses. Six quarts of water. When it begins to ferment 
bottle it, and it will be ready for use in eight hours. 

Orange, or Lemon Syrup. 

Put a pound and a half of white sugar to each pint 
of juice, add some of the peel, boil ten minutes, then 
strain and cork it. It makes a fine beverage, and is 
useful to flavor pies and puddings. 

Acid Fruit Syrups. 

The juice of any acid fruit can be made into a syrup 
by the above receipt, using only a pound of sugar for 
each pint of juice, and kept on hand for summer drink. 

Imitation Lemon Syrup. 

Four ounces tartaric acid, powdered. Two drachms 
oil of lemon. This can be kept in a vial for a month, 
and then must be renewed. A tablespoonful put to 
water sweetened with loaf sugar, makes six glasses of 
lemonade. 

Superior Ginger Beer. 

Ten pounds of sugar. 

Nine ounces of lemon juice. 

Half a pound of honey. 

Eleven ounces bruised ginger root. 

Nine gallons of water.' Three pints of yeast. 

Boil the ginger half an hour in a gallon and a half of 



TEMPERANCE DRINKS. 187 

water, then add the rest of the water and the other in- 
gredients, and strain it when cold, add the white of 
one egg beaten, and half an ounce of essence of lemon. 
Let it stand four days then bottle it, and it will keep 
good many months. 

Lemon Sherbet. 

Dissolve a pound and a half of loaf sugar in one 
quart of water, add the juice of ten lemons, press the 
lemons so as to extract not only the juice, but the oil of 
the rind, and let the skins remain a while in the water 
and sugar. Strain through a sieve, and then freeze it 
like ice cream. 

Orange Sherbet, 

Take the juice of a dozen oranges, and pour a pint 
of boiling water on the peel, and let it stand, covered, 
half an hour. Boil a pound of loaf sugar in a pint of 
water, skim, and then add the juice and the water in 
the peel to the sugar. Strain it and cool it with ice, 
or freeze it. The juice of two lemons and a little more 
sugar improves it. 

Sham Champagne. 

One lemon sliced. 

A tablespoonful of tartaric acid. 

One ounce of race ginger. 

One pound and a half of sugar. 

Two gallons and a half of boiling water poured on to 
the above. When blood warm, add a gill of distillery 
yeast, or twice as much of home-brewed. Let it stand 
in the sun through the day. When cold in the even- 
ing, cork and wire it. In two days it is ready for use. 

Coffee. 

Mocha and Old Java are the best, and time improves 
all kinds. Dry it a long time before roasting. Roast it 
quick, stirring constantly, or it will taste raw and bit- 



188 TEMPERANCE DRINKS. 

ter. When roasted, put in a bit of butter the size of a 
chestnut. Keep it shut up close, or it loses its strength 
and flavor. Never grind it till you want to use it, as 
it loses flavor by standing. 

To prepare it, put two great spoonfuls to each pint 
of water, mix it with the white, yolk, and shell of an 
egg : pour on hot, but not boiling water, and boil it not 
over ten minutes. Take it off. pour in half a tea-cup 
of cold water, and in five minutes pour it off without 
shaking. When eggs are scarce, clear with fish skin, 
as below. Boiled milk improves both tea and coffee, 
but must be boiled separately. Much coffee is spoiled 
by being burned black instead of brown, and by being 
burned unequally, some too much and some too little. 
Constant care and stirring are indispensable. 

Fish Skin for Coffee. 

Take the skin of a mild codfish which has not been 
soaked, rinse and then dry it in a warm oven, after 
bread is drawn. Cut it in inch squares. One of these 
serves for two quarts of coffee, and is put in the first 
thing. 

Chocolate. 

Allow three large spoonfuls of scraped chocolate to 
each pint of water, or take off an inch of the cake for 
each quart of water, boil it half an hour, and do not boil 
the milk in it, but add it when wanted. 

Cocoa and Shells. 



Dry the nut in a warm oven after bread is drawn, 
pound it, and put an ounce to each pint of water. Boil 
an hour, and do not add milk till it is used. If shells 
are used, soak them over night, then boil them an hour 
in the same water. Put in as much as you like. Boil 
cocoa and chocolate the day before, cool and take off 
the oil, and then heat for use, and it is as good, and 
more healthful. 



DSDfKS. 189 

Tea. 

The old-fashioned rule to put one teaspoonful for 
each person, is not proper, as thus fifty pei ould 

require fifty teaspoonfuls, which is enormous K 
on must be guided by taste in this matter. Tea is 
[t unless the water is boiling when it is made. Bl 
tea impi boiling, but green is injured by it. 

Offer a. 

It is gaid that the seeds of ochra burnt like coffee, 
make a beverage it 

Children's Drh 

There are d pared for children, which 

they love much better than tea and coffee, for no child 
at first loves these drinks till trained to it As their 

older friends are served with green and Wadfc tea, there 
;. tpAife tea to offer them, which they will alw* 

r. if properly trainer], and it IS always healthful. 

White Tea. 

[ri.v into half a cup of good 

id fill it with boil ten 

/>oy'.v Coffee. 

ry toast, into a bowL 
Put on a plenty of sugar, or molasses. 

in one half rnilk and one half boiling water. 
To be eaten with a spoon, or drank if iJicJcjicd. 
lasses foi L« preferred by most children. 

Sf/rav;h wry Vinegar. 

Put four pound-; very ripe strawberries, nice];/ dre 

to three quarts of the best vinegar, and let them stand 

three, or four day--;. Then drain the vinegar through a 
jelly-bag, and pour it on to the same quantity of fruit. 
Repeat tJ i in thr< -y third time. 



190 TEMPERANCE DRINKS. 

Finally, to each pound of the liquor thus obtained, 
add one pound of fine sugar. Bottle it and let it stand 
covered, but not tight corked, a week ; then cork it 
tight, and set it in a dry and cool place, where it will 
not freeze. Raspberry vinegar can be made in the 
same way. 

Royal Strawberry Acid. 

Take three pounds of ripe strawberries, two ounces 
of citric acid, and one quart of spring water. Dissolve 
the acid in the water and pour it on to the strawberries, 
and let them stand in a cool place twenty-four hours. 
Then drain the liquid off and pour it on to three pounds 
more of strawberries, and let it stand twenty-four hours. 
Then add to the liquid its own weight of sugar, boil it 
three or four minutes (in a porcelain lined preserve kettle, 
lest metal may affect the taste), and when cool, cork it 
in bottles lightly for three days, and then tight, and seal 
them. Keep it in a dry and cool place, where it will 
not freeze. It is very delicious for the sick, or the well. 

Delicious Milk Lemonade. 

Pour a pint of boiling water on to six ounces of loaf 
sugar, add a quarter of a pint of lemon juice, and half 
the quantity of good sherry wine. Then add three 
quarters of a pint of cold milk, and strain the whole, to 
make it nice and clear. 

Portable Lemonade. 

Mix strained lemon juice with loaf sugar, in the pro- 
portion of four large lemons to a pound, or as much as 
it will hold in solution ; grate the rind of the lemons 
into this, and preserve this in a jar. If this is too sweet, 
add a little citric acid. Use a tablespoonful to a tum- 
bler of water. 



RECEIPTS FOR FOOD AND DRINKS FOR THE SICK. 191 



CHAPTER XX. 

RECEIPTS FOR FOOD AND DRINKS FOR THE SICK. 

General Remarks on the Preparation of Articles for 
the Sick. 

Always have everything you use very sweet and 
clean, as the sense of taste and smell are very sensitive 
in sickness. Never cook articles for the sick over a 
smoke or blaze, as you will thus impart a smoky taste. 
When the mixture is thick, stir often to prevent burn- 
ing". Be very careful, in putting in seasoning, not to 
put in too much, as it is easy to add, but not to subtract. 

The nicest way to flavor with orange or lemon peel, 
is to rub loaf sugar on the peel till the oil is absorbed 
into it, and then use the sugar to flavor and sweeten. 
Herbs and spice, when boiled to flavor, should be tied in 
a rag, as they will not then burn on to the vessel at the 
edges. 

Always have a shawl at hand, also a clean towel, a 
clean handkerchief, and a small waiter when you pre- 
sent food or drink. Many of the articles for desserts and 
evening parties are good for the sick. 

An Excellent Relish for a Convalescent. 

Cut some codfish to bits the size of a pea, and boil it 
a minute in water to freshen it. Pour off all the water, 
and add some cream and a little pepper. 

Split and toast a Boston cracker, and put the above 
upon it. Milk with a little butter may be used instead 
of cream. 

Ham or smoked beef may be prepared in the same 
way. For a variety, beat up an egg and stir it in, in- 
stead of cream, or with the cream. 



192 RECEIPTS FOR FOOD 

These preparations are also good for a relish for a 
family at breakfast or tea. 

Several Ways of Preparing Chickens for the Sick. 

Chicken tea is made by boiling any part of the chick- 
en, and. using the broth weak with only a little salt. 

Chicken broth is made by boiling a chicken a good 
deal, and skimming very thoroughly and seasoning 
with salt. A little rice, or pearl barley improves it, or 
a little parsley may be used to flavor it. 

Chicken panada is made by pounding some of the 
meat of boiled chicken in a mortar, with a little broth, 
and also a little salt and nutmeg. Then pour in a lit- 
tle broth and boil it five minutes. It should be a thick 
broth. 

Milk Porridge. 

Make a thin batter with Indian meal and wheat 
flour, a spoonful of each, and pour it into a quart of 
boiling milk and water, equal portions of each. Salt 
it to the taste. Boil ten minutes. 

Rice Gruel, and Oatmeal Gruel. 

Make a thin paste of ground rice or Indian meal, and 
pour into boiling water, or boiling milk and water. Let 
the rice boil up once, but the corn meal must boil half 
an hour. Season with salt, sugar, and nutmeg. A 
little cream is a great improvement. 

Arrowroot and Tapioca Gruels. 

Jamaica arrowroot is the best. Make a thin paste, 
and pour into boiling water, and flavor with sugar, salt, 
and nutmeg. A little lemon juice improves it. 

Tapioca must be soaked in twice the quantity of w r a- 
ter over night, then add milk and water, and boil till it 
is soft. Flavor as above. 

Dropped Egg. 

Salt some boiling water, and drop in it a raw egg out 



AND DRINKS FOR TftE SICK. 193 

of the shell, taking care not to break the yolk; take it 
up as soon as the white is hardened. Dip some toast iii 
hot water, and put salt or butter on to it, and lay the 
egg on the top. 

Wheat Gruel for Young Children with iveak stom- 
achs, or for Invalids. 

Tie half a pint of wheat flour in thick cotton, and 
boil it three or four hours ; then dry the lump and grate 
it when you use it. Prepare a gruel of it by making a 
thin paste, and pouring it. into boiling milk and water, 
and flavor with salt. This is good for teething children. 

Another Panada. 

Boil a mixture of one-fourth wine, and three-fourths 
water, and flavor it with nutmeg or lemon. Stir in 
grated bread or crackers, and let it boil up once. 

Herb Drinks. 

Balm tea is often much relished by the sick. Sage 
tea also is good. Balm, sage, and sorrel, mixed with 
sliced lemon and boiling water poured on, and then 
sweetened, is a fine drink. Penny roj r al makes a good 
drink to promote perspiration. 

Herb drinks must often be renewed, as they grow in- 
sipid by standing. 

Other Simple Drinks. 

Pour boiling water on to tamarinds, or mashed cran- 
berries, or mashed whortleberries, then pour off the wa- 
ter and sweeten it. Add a little wine if allowed. 

Toast bread very brown, and put it in cold water, and 
it is often relished. Pour boiling water on to bread 
toasted very brown, and boil it a minute, then strain it, 
and add a little cream and sugar. Make a tea of parch- 
ed corn pounded, and add sugar and cream. 

Cream Tartar Whey. 

Warm a pint of fresh milk, when scalding hot, stir in 

17 



194 KECEIPTS FOR FOOD 

a teaspoonful of cream tartar, and if this does not turn 
it, add more, till it does. Strain it, and sweeten with 
loaf sugar. Those w 7 ho cannot eat wine whey can eat 
this without trouble, and it is good in fevers. 

/Simple Wine Whey. 

Mix equal quantities of water, milk, and white w 7 ine. 
Warm the milk and water, and then add the wine. 
Sweeeten it to the taste. 

A great Favorite with Invalids. 

Take one third brisk cider and two thirds water, 
sweeten it, and crumb in toasted bread, or toasted 
crackers, and grate on nutmeg. Acid jellies will answer 
for this, when cider cannot be obtained. 

A New Way of making Barley Water. 

Put two tablespoonfuls of pearl barley into a quart 
jug, two great spoonfuls of white sugar, a small pinch 
of salt, a small bit of orange, or lemon peel, and a glass 
of calve's foot jelly, and then fill the jug with boiling 
w^ater. Shake it, and then let it stand till quite cold. 
It is best made over night, to use next day. When the 
liquor is all poured off, it may be filled again with boil- 
ing water, and it is again very good. 

Panada. 

Take two crackers, pour on boiling water, and let it 
simmer five minutes ; beat up an egg. sweeten and fla- 
vor it to your taste, and then put the cracker to it. 

Arrowroot Blanc Mange. 

Take two tablespoonfuls of arrowroot to one quart 
of milk, and a pinch of salt. Scald the milk, sweeten 
it, and then stir in the arrowroot, which must first be 
wet up with some of the milk. Let it boil up once. 
Orange water, rose water, or lemon peel, can be used to 
flavor it. Pour it into moulds to cool. 



AND DRINKS FOR THE SICK. 195 

Rice Flour Blanc Mange. 

Four tablespoonfuls of ground rice and a pinch of 
salt wet up with a little milk and stirred into a quart 
of boiling milk. Rub the rind of a lemon with hard, re- 
fined sugar, till all the oil is absorbed, and use the su- 
gar to sweeten to your taste. Boil, stirring well, for 
eight minutes ; then cool it, and add the whites of three 
eggs cut to a froth. Put it on to the fire, and stir con- 
stantly till boiling hot, then turn it into moulds, or cups, 
and let it stand till cold. 

Another Receipt for American Isinglass Jelly. 

One ounce of gelatine, or American isinglass. 

Three pints of boiling water. 

A pound and a half of loaf sugar. 

Three lemons, cut in slices, leaving out the peel of 
one. 

The whites of four eggs, cut to a stiff froth. 

Soak the isinglass half an hour in cold water, then 
take it out and pour on the boiling water. When cool, 
add the sugar, lemon, and whites of eggs ; boil all three 
or four minutes, then strain through a jelly-bag, and 
add wine to your taste. 

Tapioca Jelly. 

One cup full of tapioca. 

Wash it two or three times, soak it in w 7 ater, for five 
or six hours. Then simmer it in the same water in 
which it has been soaked, with a pinch of salt and bits of 
fresh lemon peel, until it becomes transparent. Then 
add lemon juice, wine, and loaf sugar to flavor it. Let 
all simmer well together, then pour into glasses to cool. 

Caudle 

To rice, or water gruel, add a wine-glass of wine, or 
ale, and season with nutmeg and sugar. 

Sago Jelly. 

Soak a tea-cup full of sago in cold water, half an hour, 



196 RECEIPTS FOR FOOD 

then pour off the water, and add fresh, and soak it 
another half hour ; and then boil it slowly with a pinch 
of salt, a stick of cinnamon, or a bit of orange, or lem- 
on peel, stirring constantly. When thickened, add wine 
and white sugar to suit the taste, and let it boil a 
minute ; then turn it into cups. 

Spiced Chocolate. 

One quart of milk. 

Two squares of chocolate. 

One stick of cinnamon. 

A little nutmeg. 

Grate the chocolate. Boil the milk, reserving a little 
cold to moisten the chocolate, which must be mixed 
perfectly smooth to a thin paste. When the milk boils 
(in which the cinnamon must be put when cold, and 
boil in it), stir in the chocolate, and let it boil up quickly, 
then pour into a pitcher, and grate on the nutmeg. 
Rich cream added to the milk, will improve it. 

Barley Water. 

Put two ounces of pearl barley to half a pint of boil- 
ing water, and let it simmer five minutes ; pour off the 
water, and add two quarts of boiling water, add two 
ounces sliced figs, two of stoned raisins, and boil till it is 
reduced to a quart. Strain it for drink. 

Water Gruel. 

To two quarts of boiling water, add one gill of In- 
dian meal and a heaped tablespoonful of flour, made 
into a paste and stirred in the water. Let it boil slow- 
ly twenty minutes. Salt, sugar, and nutmeg to the 
taste. 

Oatmeal makes a fine gruel in the same way. 

Beef Tea. 

Broil a pound of tender, juicy beef ten minutes, salt 
and pepper it, cut it in small pieces, pour on a pint of 



AND DRINKS FOR THE SICK. 197 

boiling water, steep it half an hour, and then pour it off 
to drink. Another way is slower, but better. Cut the 
beef in small pieces, fill a junk bottle with them, and 
keep it five hours in boiling water. Then pour out, and 
season the juice thus obtained. 

Tomato Syrup. 

Express the juice of ripe tomatoes, and put a pound 
of sugar to each quart of the juice, put it in bottles, and 
set it aside. In a few weeks it will have the appear- 
ance and flavor of pure wine of the best kind, and mix- 
ed with water is a delightful beverage for the sick. 
No alcohol is needed to preserve it. 

The medical properties of the tomato are in high re- 
pute, and it is supposed that this syrup retains all that 
is contained in the fruit. 

Arroivroot Custard for Invalids. 

One tablespoonful of arrowroot. 

One pint of milk. One egg. 

One tablespoonful of sugar. 

Mix the arrowroot with a little of the cold milk, 
put the milk into a sauce-pan over the fire, and when it 
boils, stir in the arrowroot and the egg and sugar, well 
beaten together. Let it scald, and pour into cups to 
cool. A little cinnamon boiled in the milk flavors it 
pleasantly. 

Sago for Invalids. 

Wash one large spoonful of sago, boil it in a little 
water, With a pinch of salt and one or two sticks of cin- 
namon, until it looks clear ; then add a pint of milk, 
boil all well together, and sweeten with loaf sugar. 

Rice Jelly. 

Make a thin paste of two ounces of rice flour, and 
three ounces of loaf sugar, and boil them in a quart of 
water till transparent. Flavor with rose, orange, or 

17* 



198 RECEIPTS FOR FOOD 

cinnamon water. It can be made also by boiling whole 
rice long and slowly. A pinch of salt improves it. 

Sassafras Jelly. 

Take the pith of sassafras boughs, break it in small 
pieces, and let it soak in cold water till the water be- 
comes glutinous. It has the flavor of sassafras, and is 
much relished by the sick, and is also good nourish- 
ment. 

Buttermilk Whey. 

One quart of good buttermilk. When boiling, beat 
up the yolk of an egg, and stir in, and, if it can be al- 
lowed, some thick cream, or a little butter. Then beat 
the white to a stiff froth and stir in. Sugar and spice 
if liked. 

Alum Whey. 

Mix half an ounce of pounded alum with one pint of 
milk. Strain it, and add sugar and nutmeg to the 
whey. It is good in cases of hemorrhages, and some- 
times for colic. 

Another Wine Whey. 

One pint of boiling milk. 

Two wine-glasses of wine. 

Boil them one moment, stirring. 

Take out the curd, and sweeten and flavor the whey. 

Mulled Wine. 

One pint of wine and one pint of water. 
Beat eight eggs and add to the above, while boiling, 
stirring rapidly. As soon as it begins to boil it is done. 

Tamarind Whey. 

Mix an ounce of tamarind pulp with a pint of milk, 
strain it, and add a little white sugar to the whey. 



AND DRINKS FOR THE SICK. 199 

Egg Tea and Egg Coffee {very fine). 

Beat the yolk of an egg with a great spoonful of 
sugar, and put it to a tea-cup of cold tea or cold coffee. 
Add a half a tea-cup of water, cold in summer and boil- 
ing in winter, and as much cream. Then whip the 
white of the egg to a stiff froth and stir it in. It is very- 
much relished by invalids. 

Cranberry Tea. 

Wash ripe cranberries, mash them, pour boiling 
water on them, and then strain off the water and 
sweeten it, and grate on nutmeg. 

Apple Tea. 

Take good pippins, slice them thin, pour on boiling 
water, and let it stand some time. Pour off the water, 
and sweeten and flavor it. 

Egg and Milk. 

Beat the yolk of an egg into a great spoonful of 
white sugar, or more. Add a coffee cup of good milk, 
then beat the white of the egg to a stiff froth, and stir 
it in. A little wine, or nutmeg to flavor it. 

Sago Milk. 

Soak one ounce of sago in a pint of cold water an 
hour. Pour off the water, and add a pint and a half of 
new milk. Simmer it slowly till the sago and milk are 
well mixed. Flavor with sugar, nutmeg, and wine. 

Tapioca Milk. 

Made like sago milk, only not boiled so long. 

Bread and Milk. 

Take a slice of good bread and soak it in milk, and 
then put on a little butter, and it is often very accept- 
able to the sick. In some cases sprinkle a little salt on 
instead of butter. 



200 RECEIPTS FOR FOOD 

Egg Gruel. 

Beat the yolk of an egg with a spoonful of white sugar, 
and then beat the white separately, to a stiff froth. Pour 
water when boiling to the yolk, then stir in the white 
and add spice, or any seasoning, to suit the taste. 
When a person has taken a violent cold, after being 
warm in bed give this as hot as it can be taken, and it 
is often a perfect cure. 

Ground Rice Gruel. 

Take two tablespoonfuls of ground rice, and a pinch 
of salt, and mix it with milk enough for a thin batter. 
Stir it with a pint of boiling water, or boiling milk, and 
flavor with sugar and spice. 

Oatmeal Gruel. 

Four tablespoonfuls of grits (coarse oatmeal) and a 
pinch of salt, into a pint of boiling water. Strain and 
flavor it while warm. 

Or, take fine oatmeal and make a thin batter with a 
little cold water, and pour it into a sauce-pan of boiiing 
water. 

Simple Barley Water. 

Take two ounces and a half of pearl barley, cleanse 
it, and boil it ten minutes in half a pint of water. Strain 
out this water and add two quarts of boiling water, and 
boil it down to one quart, Then strain it, and flavor it 
with slices of lemon and sugar, or sugar and nutmeg. 

This is very acceptable to the sick in fevers. 

Compound Barley Water. 

Take two pinls of simple barley water, a pint of hot 
water, two and a half ounces of sliced figs, half an 
ounce of liquorice root sliced and bruised, and two 
ounces and a half of raisins. Boil all down to two pints, 
and strain it. This is slightly aperient. 



AND DRINKS FOR THE SICK. 201 

Cream Tartar* Beverage. 

Take two even teaspoonfuls of cream tartar, and pour 
on a pint of boiling water, and flavor it with white sugar 
and lemon peel to suit the taste. If this is too acid, add 
more boiling water, as cold, or lukewarm water, is not 
so good. 

Seidlitz Powders. 

Two drachms of Rochelle salts, and two scruples of 
bicarbonate of soda, in a white paper ; thirty-five grains 
of tartaric acid in a blue one. 

Dissolve that in the white paper in nearly half a 
tumbler of water, then add the other powder, dissolved 
in another half tumbler of water. 

Syrup mixed with the water makes it more agree- 
able. It it a gentle laxative. 

Blackberry Syrup, for Cholera and Summer Com- 
plaint. 

Two quarts of blackberry juice. 
One pound of loaf sugar. 
Half an ounce of nutmegs. 
A quarter of an ounce of cloves. 
Half an ounce of cinnamon. 
Half an ounce of allspice. 

Pulverize the spice, and boil all for fifteen or twenty 
minutes. When cold, add a pint of brandy. 

Remarks on the Combinations of Cooking. 

The preceding receipts have been tested by the best 
housekeepers. In reviewing them, it will be seen that 
there are several ways of combining the various articles, 
all of which have, in the hands of good housekeepers, 
proved successful. Still it will be found that some meth- 
ods are more successful than others. 

In most cases, the receipts have been written as given 
by the ladies, who endorse them as the best. But it is 
believed that the following general rules will enable a 
housekeeper to modify some of them to advantage. 



202 RECEIPTS FOR FOOD 

In using the whites of eggs, it is found, as shown by 
several receipts, that various combinations are much 
lighter when they are cut to a froth, and put in the last 
thing. This is so in batter puddings, and several other 
receipts. It seems, therefore, probable that in all cases, 
cake and pies, and puddings that will allow it, will be 
lighter by adding the cut whites of the eggs the last min- 
ute before cooking. Sponge cake especially would most 
probably be most easily made light by this method. 

In using alkalies with acids to raise mixtures, the 
poorest is pearlash, the next best is saleratus ; bicarbo- 
nate of soda is still better, and sal volatile is best of all. 

But one thing must be remembered in reference to 
sal volatile, and that is, that the lightness made by it is 
owing to the disengagement of the gas by heat. It is 
mixed with the flour, and when set in the oven, the heat 
volatilizes and expels the gas, and thus the lightness is in- 
duced. Of course hot water must not be used to dissolve 
it, as it would expel much of the gas. Sal volatile must 
be kept powdered, and closely confined in glass bottles 
with ground glass stoppers. It is certain to make any 
mixture light that can be raised by anything. 

Cream tartar is best bought in lumps, and then pul- 
verized and kept corked. 

When saleratus is used with sour milk or buttermilk, 
the flour should be wet up with the sour milk, and then 
the alkali dissolved, and worked in. This makes the 
effervescence take place in the mixture ; whereas, if the 
alkali is put into the sour liquid, much of the carbonic 
acid generated is lost before it reaches the flour. 

In all cases, then, where saleratus is used with acid 
wetting, it would seem best to wet up the flour with at 
least a part of the sour liquid, before putting in the ah 
kali. 

When the alkali is a light powder, it may sometimes 
be mixed thoroughly with the flour, and then the sour 
liquid be mixed in. The experiment can be made by 
any who like to learn the result. A lady who under- 
stands chemistry may often improve her receipts by ap- 
plying chemical principles. All the lightness made by 



AND DRINKS FOR THE SICK. 203 

an acid and an alkali is owing to the disengagement of 
carbonic acid, which is retained by the gluten of the 
flour. Of course, then, that mode is best which secures 
most effectually all the carbonic acid generated by the 
combination. 

Cooking is often much improved by a judicious use 
of sugar or molasses. Thus, in soups, a very little su 
gar, say half a teaspoonful to the quart, gives body to the 
soup, and just about as much sweetness as is found in the 
juices of the best and sweetest kinds of meat. It is 
very good when the meats used are of inferior kind, 
and destitute of sweetness. So in preparing vegetables 
that are destitute of sweetness, a little sugar is a great 
improvement. Mashed turnips, squash, and pumpkin, 
are all of them much improved by extracting all the wa- 
ter, and adding a little sugar, especially so when they 
are poor. 

A little molasses always improves all bread or cakes 
made of unbolted wheat or rye. 

A little lard or butter always improves cakes made of 
Indian meal, as it makes them light and tender. 

The careful use of salt is very important in cooking. 
Everything is better to have the salt cooked in it, but 
there should always be a little less salt than most would 
like, as it is easy for those who wish more to add it, but 
none can subtract it. 

When the shortening is butter, no salt is needed in 
cakes and puddings, but in all combinations that have no 
salt in shortening, it must be added. A little salt in 
sponge cake, custards, and the articles used for desserts, 
made of gelatine, rice, sago, and tapioca, is a great im- 
provement, giving both body and flavor. 



^04 » BUTTER AND CHEESE. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

ON MAKING BUTTER AND CHEESE. 

The directions in this article were given by a prac- 
tical amateur cheese-maker of Goshen, Conn., a place 
distinguished all over the nation for the finest butter 
and cheese. 

Articles used in Making Cheese. 

The articles used in making cheese are, a large tub, 
painted inside and outside, to hold the milk, a large 
brass kettle to heat it, a cheese basket, cheese hooks, 
cheese ladders, strainers of loose linen cloth, and a 
cheese press. 

It is indispensable that all the articles used be first 
washed thoroughly, then scalded, and then dried thor- 
oughly, before putting away. 

Mode of Preparing the Rennet. 

Do not remove any part of the curd that may be 
found in the rennet (which is the stomach of a calf), as 
it is the best part. Take out everything mixed with 
the curd in the stomach. Soak the rennet in a quart 
of water, then hang it to dry, where flies will not reach 
it, and keep the water bottled for use. Rennet differs in 
strength, so that no precise rule can be given for quan- 
tity, but say about half a tea-cup full to two pails of milk. 

To Make Cheese. 

Strain the milk into the tub, keeping in all the cream. 
Heat a portion, and then add it to the cold, till the whole is 
raised to 9S° or 100° Fahrenheit ; no more and no less. 
Then put in the rennet, stirring well, and take enough 



BUTTER AND CHEESE. 205 

to have the curd form well in an hour. If it does not 
form well, more must be stirred in. 

When the curd is formed, cut it in small checks to th 
bottom, and then break it gently with a skimmer, to make 
the whey separate. If this is not done gently, the milk 
runs off, the whey turns white, and the cheese is inju- 
red. The greener the whey, the better the cheese. 

When the whey is separated, set the basket over the tub, 
spread the strainer over, and dip the curd into it, occa- 
sionally lifting the corners to hasten the draining. 

Then draw up the corners, twist them, and set a stone 
on, to press out the whey for ten minutes. Then again 
cut up the curd, and press it again as before. Con- 
tinue thus till it is thoroughly drained. Then press it 
all into some regular form, and in cool weather it may 
stand till next morning for more cheese to be added. 
But if the weather is hot, it must be scalded the first 
day. 

To Scald the Card. 

Cut, or chop the curd into cakes the fourth of an 
inch in size, put it in the strainer, and immerse it 
in the brass kettle of warm water, enough to cover it. 
Then raise the temperature to 105°. Stir it well till 
warmed through, say half an hour. Then gradually 
add cold water, till reduced to 88° or 90°. Then 
drain the curd thoroughly as before, and salt it, al- 
lowing four ounces of salt to every ten pounds of curd, 
and mixing very thoroughly. Then put it into the 
small strainers, and then into the cheese hoops, laying 
the strainer over smoothly, and placing the follower on 
it. Put it to press, and let it remain two days. When 
taken from the press, grease it with common butter or 
butter made of whey cream, and set it on a shelf in a 
dark, cool room. Grease and turn it every day till firm, 
and for six months grease and turn it often. 

If the cheese is to be colored, boil anatto with ley, 
and put to the milk with the rennet. To make sage 
cheese, put in sage juice (some add to the sage spin- 
ach juice) when you put in the rennet. Sew strips of 
strong cotton around large cheeses, when taken from 

18 



206 BUTTER AND CHEESE. 

the press, to preserve their form. In fly time, put cay- 
enne pepper in the butter you rub on. 

Stilton cheese is made of milk enriched by cream, 
and of a small size. 

Cottage cheese is made by pressing the curds of milk, 
and when free from whey, adding cream or butter and 
salt. 

Welsh rabbit is made by melting cheese and adding 
wine and other seasoning. 

Old and dry cheese is very good grated and mixed 
with a little brandy, just enough to wet it up. 

Directions for making Butter. 

Two particulars are indispensable to success in mak- 
ing good butter ; the first is, that the churning be fre- 
quent, so that the cream will not grow bitter, or sour ; 
and the second is cleanliness in all the implements an 
processes connected with it. 

In hot weather it is important to keep the milk, cream, 
and butter as cool as possible. For this purpose, those 
who have no ice-house, or very cool miik-Toom, hang 
their cream down a well. In winter it is needful to raise 
the temperature of the cream a little, while churning, 
but care must be taken to do it very slightly, or the but- 
ter is injured. The best way is to warm the churn, and 
churn in a warm room. 

After the weather gets cold, the cream rises more per- 
fectly after allowing the milk to stand say ten or eleven 
hours, to set it over a furnace a while till it is warmed 
through, but not heated hot enough to boil. Then take 
it back, let it stand eleven hours longer, and skim it. 
This secures more, and better cream. 

In hot weather, set the churn into a tub of cold wa- 
ter, and churn steadily, as stopping puts back the pro- 
cess, and injures the butter. In hot weather, do not 
churn very fast, as it makes soft butter. When the but- 
ter has come, collect it in a wooden bowl, which is the 
best article to work it in, having first scalded it, and then 
put it in cold water till cold. Do not use the hand m 
working over butter, as it injures it so much that a high- 



BUTTER AND CHEESE. 207 

er price is often paid for butter made without using the 
hand. 

A wooden spad made for the purpose is the proper ar- 
ticle for working over butter. 

As soon as the butter is put in the bowl, pour in as 
much of the coldest water as will allow you to work the 
butter, and keep adding and pouring off cold water, as 
you work it, until the water will run off clear. It is con- 
tinuing this process until all the buttermilk is extracted, 
which alone will secure butter that will keep good and 
sweet. Water hastens the process, but butter keeps 
longer not to have it used. 

No precise direction can be given for salting, as tastes 
vary so much in regard to this. It is a good way to no- 
tice the proportions which are most agreeable, and note 
the measure, and then measure ever after. 

In salting down in firkins, use the nicest rock salt, as 
much depends on the nature of the salt. The firkins 
must be very thoroughly seasoned, and the bottom cov- 
ered with salt, and the sides rubbed with it. Pack the 
butter in layers, with salt between. After a few days, 
the butter will shrink from the sides, and then the space 
must be filled with new and nice brine. Muslin spread 
under and over the layer of salt, between the layers of 
butter is a good plan, as it saves the butter. 

It is said that butter will be preserved sweet a long 
time for journeys, or voyages, by working into it very 
thoroughly a mixture composed of one-fourth salt, one- 
fourth saltpetre, and two-fourths white sugar. 

In large dairies, the milk is churned soon after it is 
taken from the cow. 

The quality of butter depends very much upon the 
kind of cows. Those who give a great deal of milk, are 
usually small and thin. Every cow should have a tea- 
cup full of salt each week, and must be well fed. Green 
cornstalks and carrots, are excellent for cows. Turnips, 
cabbage, and parsnips spoil the milk. The waste of 
the kitchen, with a quart of corn meal, and as much 
hay as she will eat daily, is good fare. Skimmed milk 
for drink is good, and if it is refused, withhold water, and 



208 BUTTER AND CHEESE, 

the cow will learn to love it. Milk three times a day, 
and you get much more cream ; stripping must be done 
thoroughly, or you lose cream, and dry up the cow. 
Never make a cow run, as it injures the milk. Use tin 
vessels for milk. 

A stoneware churn is best, and a tin one is better 
than wood. Keep milk in a cool place, where air cir- 
culates freely ; close air spoils milk and cream. Never 
stir milk after it is set, as it stops the rising of the cream. 
Skim milk as soon as it becomes loppard. Put a little 
ice in each pan in hot weather, and you get more cream. 
In skimming milk, do not scrape off the hardest portion 
that adheres to the pan, as it injures the butter. Put 
a spoonful of salt to each pailful of milk (except what is 
for family use), and it makes the butter sweeter, and 
come easier. Salt your cream as you gather it, and it 
keeps better, and makes sweeter butter. In hot weath- 
er churn in the coolest part of the day, and in a cool 
place, and do not shut the air out of the churn, as it is 
necessary to make the butter come. Butter is best, to 
work it enough the first time. Never work it three 
times. It will keep better to work out the buttermilk 
without putting in water. The more entirely it is freed 
from buttermilk, the longer it will keep sweet. 

A good brine is made for butter by dissolving a quart 
of fine salt, a pound of loaf sugar, and a teaspoonful of 
saltpetre in two quarts of water, and then strain it on 
to the butter. Packed butter is most perfectly preserved 
sweet by setting the firkin into a larger firkin, and fill- 
ing in with good brine, and covering it. Butter will 
keep sweet a year thus. 

Buttermilk kept in potter's ware dissolves the glazing, 
and becomes poisonous. 

Never scald strainers or milky vessels till thoroughly 
washed, as the milk or cream put in them will be in- 
jured by it. The best way to scald such vessels is to 
plunge them all over into scalding water, and then every 
spot is scalded. 

Butter will sometimes not come because the air is too 
much excluded from the churn. 



ARTICLES AND CONVENIENCES FOR THE SICK. 209 



CHAPTER XXII. 

ARTICLES AND CONVENIENCES FOR THE SICK. 

*"In some maladies," says Dr. Pereira, "as fevers 
and acute inflammatory diseases, an almost unlimited 
use of fluids is admitted, under the names of slops, thin 
diet, fever diet, broth diet, &c. They quench thirst, 
lessen the stimulating quality of the blood, increase its 
fluidity, and promote the actions of the secreting organs. 
They are sometimes useful, also, in lessening the irrita- 
ting contents of the alimentary canal." 

" But in some maladies it is necessary to restrict the 
quantity of fluids taken, or, in other words, to employ a 
dry diet." 

As it is so customary for invalids to throng to watering 
places, the following remarks contain very important 
cautions. 

" The Congress Water at Saratoga," says Dr. Lee, 
"though it possesses active medical qualities, yet, except 
in diseases attended with inflammatory action, seldom 
occasions unpleasant consequences, unless drank in very 
large quantities, when it often causes serious, if not dan- 
gerous effects." Dr. Steel, a physician who has devoted 
much attention to this subject, remarks, " About three 
pints should be taken, an hour or two before breakfast, 
and be followed by exercise, to produce a cathartic effect. 
Where more is needed for this effect, add a teaspoonful 
or two of Epsom salts to the first tumbler. It should 
not be drank at all during the remainder of the day by 
those who wish to experience the full benefit of its use. 
It would be better for those whose complaints render them 
fit subjects for its administration, if the fountain should 
be locked up, and no one suffered to approach it after the 
hour of nine or ten in the morning." 

It is probable that multitudes who frequent mineral 
18* 



2 . ') 

lose all benefit^ but suffer injury by the 
e%e< t of the Such waters should, by in- 

ralid . be taken under the direction of aphy irian 
acquainted with their nature and Ui 

Alcoholic drinks should never be given to the 
t by direction of a physician, as they are powerful 
medical agents and in some a ild increase i 

ease* 

The acid di ordinarily those most relished \>y 

(he sick, and they are, ustu pe- 

cially in febrile and other inflammatory attack . ice 

ui and drinks are good for the e pecially in 

I ! | I 

When a pei the stomach 

should never be loaded irith rich food Nor should the 
palate be tempted by favorite an hen no appetite 

iui food exists, as thi . is the indication of nature that the 
i tomach i - in no order to digest food. 

\)w Lee remai b , r: W e regard i rata* 

a|)leofall the articles of food, in cases of the derange- 
ment of the d It. nourishes, while it i ool 
the irritable mucous membrane, and while it supp 

ugth, never - een ate the exi sting - 

For acute, bi chronic affections of the alimentary canal, 
rice watei for drink, and rice jelly for food, seem peculiar- 
ly well adapted, and appear to exert a specific influence 
in bringing about a recovery* These preparati 
invaluable also in convale cence from acute fovei i and 
other maladies, and in the summer complaints of young 
children," 

"Isinglass is a rery pure form of gelatine, and d 
•A in milk, sweetened and flavored, is taken wkh 

vantage by a ents when recovering from de- 

bilk] 

Cod sounds, and the American gelatine, are equally 
good Calve's foot jelly, blanc mange, and other gelat- 
inous food, are among the best kinds of nourishmi 
(v-,\)fj;\'i\\y in oa:-:';s of cholera infantum. The sli| 
quantity of spice or wine used to flavor such artic 
cept in peculiar i nnot do any injury. 



FOR THE SICK. 211 

Buttered toast, either dry or dipped, rarely is a suitable 
article for the sick, as melted oils are very difficult of di- 
gestion. Where there are strong powers of digestion, it 
may be proper. 

Many cases of illness, among both adults and children, 
are readily cured by abstinence from all food. Head- 
aches, disordered stomachs, and many other attacks, are 
caused, often, by violating the rules of health laid down in 
the preceding chapter, and in consequence, some part of the 
system is overloaded, or some of the organs are clogged. 
Omitting one, two, or three meals, as the case may be, 
gives the system a chance to rest, and thus to gain 
strength, and allows the clogged organs to dispose of 
their burdens. The practice of giving drugs to "clear 
out the stomach," though it may afford the needed re- 
lief, always weakens the system, while abstinence se- 
cures the good result, and yet does no injury. 

Said a young gentleman to a distinguished medical 
practitioner of Philadelphia, — u Doctor, what do you do 
for yourself, when you have a turn of headache, or other 
slight attack?" "Go without my dinner," was the re- 
ply. " Well, if that will not do, what do you do then V 
" Go without my supper," was the answ r er. " But if that 
does not cure you, what then?" "Go without my 
breakfast. We physicians seldom take medicines our- 
selves, or use them in our families, for we know that 
starving is better, but we cannot make our patients be- 
lieve it." 

Many cases of slight indisposition are cured by a 
change of diet. Thus, if a person suffers from consti- 
pation, and, as the consequence, has headaches, slight at- 
tacks of fever, or dyspepsia, the cause often may be re- 
moved by eating rye mush and molasses for breakfast, 
brown bread, baked apples, and other fruits. 

In cases of diarrhoea, rice water for drink, and rice 
pudding or jelly, will often remove the evil. 

In cases of long-continued confinement from sickness, 
it is very desirable to have a good variety of articles for 
the sick, as the invalid is wearied with the same round, 



212 ARTICLES AND CONVENIENCES 

and perhaps may be suffering for some ingredient of 
food, which is not found in the articles provided. 

For this reason, a large number of receipts of articles 
for the sick have been provided in this work. In pre- 
paring them, great care should be used to have every 
article employed clean and pure, and to prevent any 
burning in cooking, as the sensibilities of the sick to bad 
tastes and smells are very acute. 

It is often the case in dyspepsia and cholera infantum, 
that jellies of American gelatine are very much better 
than any preparations of farinaceous food, being much 
more easily digested. 

It would be a happy thing for the sick, and a most 
benevolent custom, if the young ladies of a place should 
practise cooking the various articles for the sick, and car- 
rying them to invalids as an offering of kindness and 
sympathy. It would be twice a blessing, first to the 
invalid, and quite as much to the young benefactress. 

There are many little comforts and alleviations for 
the sick, which should be carefully attended to, which 
are particularly pointed out m the chapter on the Care of 
the Sick, in the Domestic Economy. Such, for exam- 
ple, as keeping a room neat, clean, and in perfect or- 
der, having every article in use sweet and clean, keep- 
ing a good supply of cool water, providing pleasant per- 
fumes, lemons, flowers, and other objects agreeable to the 
senses, speaking softly, kindly, and cheerfully, and read- 
ing the Bible and other cheering books of the kind, when- 
ever it will be acceptable. Be careful to change the lin- 
en next the skin, and the bed linen, often. Be sure to 
ventilate the room thoroughly, two or three times a day, 
as pure air is a great restorative of health and strength. 
Wash the skin often, as it has a great tendency to re- 
store health, and never, except in very peculiar cases, 
can do any harm. 

Always request a physician to write all his directions, 
that no mistake may be made, and nothing be forgotten. 
Always inquire of him as to the exact mode of prepar- 
ing every article ordered, and never venture to alter, 
or omit, what he directs, unless you are sure that you 



VOR THE SICK. 213 

are better qualified to practise than he, in which case 
lie should be dismissed, and you should assume his 
duties. 

Always keep all medicines in papers and vials, label- 
led, that poisons be not given by mistake, or other inju- 
rious articles used. 

The drawing at Fig. 5 represents a contrivance for 
the sick, which ought to be prepared in every village, to 
rent out to those who need it. 

Fig. 5. 




It is called the Water Bed, or Hydrostatic Couch, 
and is made at an expense of from twelve to fifteen dol- 
lars. The object of it is to relieve the sufferings of those 
who, from extreme emaciation, or from ulcers, or bed 
sores, are great sufferers from the pressure of the bed on 
these sore places. This kind of bed proves a great re- 
lief from this kind of suffering. 

It consists of a wooden box, six feet long, and two feet 
and a half wide at the top, and the sides gradually sloping 
inward, making it fourteen inches deep. This is lined 
with sheet zinc, to make it water tight. Over this is 
thrown, and fastened to the edge of the box, a sheet of 
thick India rubber, water-proof cloth, large enough for 
an entire lining to the inside of the box. The edges 
of it ate first made to adhere to the upper edge of the 
box with spirit varnish, and then a thin strip of board is 
nailed on, to fasten it firmly, and make it water tight. 
Near the bottom, at A, is a hole and plug, to let off 
water ; and at B, a tin tube, soldered in the upper part 
of the outside, to pour water in. When used, the box 
is to be filled half full of water, about blood warmth. 
Then a woollen blanket and pillow are laid upon the In- 



214 



ARTICLES AND CONVENIENCES 



dia rubber cloth, and the patient laid on them, and he 
will float as he would in water, and there will be no 
pressure on any part of the body greater than is felt 
when the body is in water. 

This is important for all who suffer from bed sores, or 
sloughing in protracted fevers, from diseases in the hip- 
joint, from diseases of the spine, lingering consumption, 
and all diseases that compel to a protracted recumbent 
position. None but those who have seen, or experien- 
ced the relief and comfort secured to sufferers by this bed, 
can conceive of its value. The writer saw the case of a 
young man, who was enduring indescribable tortures 
with the most dreadful ulcers all over his body, and who 
had for several days and nights been unable to sleep, 
from extreme suffering. This bed was made for him, 
as an experiment, after trying every other mode of re- 
lief in vain. It was placed by his bedside, and the wa- 
ter poured in, and then his friends raised him with the 
greatest care in a blanket, and laid him on it. Instant- 
ly his groans ceased, an expression of relief and delight 
stole over his countenance, and exhausted nature sunk 
instantly into the most peaceful and protracted slumbers. 
And ever after, he was relieved from his former suffer- 
ings. Every hospital, every alms-house, and every vil- 
lage should have the means of obtaining such a bed for 
the many classes of sufferers who would thus find relief, 
and it is woman who should interest herself to secure 
such a comfort for the sick, who especially are commend- 
ed to her benevolent ministries. 




The drawing, A A, is the outline of a sick couch, such 
as would prove a great comfort in every family, and at 



FOR THE SICK. 215 

a small expense. The following are the dimensions : — 
Length of seat inside, six feet three inches ; breadth, 
twenty-eight inches ; height of the seat from the floor, 
thirteen inches. The swing frame, dd, is three feet long, 
and is fastened three feet from the head-board by a very 
large pin or screw. The seat should be of sacking, and a 
thick hair mattrass, or cushion for a bed or cushion and 
be divided into two parts, where the swing frame is 
fastened. The frame is fastened by large screws at ff. 
The supporter, ee, is fastened by large and strong hinges 
to the upper part of the frame, and is moved into the notch- 
es made in the frame of the seat. When in the notch 
a, the frame is very low ; when in notch 6, it is higher ; 
and when at c, it is as high as is needful to raise the 
sick. A piece of sacking is to be fastened over the frame, 
leaving it loose, especially at the top, and leaving a space 
at o, so as to give room for a pillow, and so that the head 
can be thrown a little back. The frame and supporter 
must be thick and strong. When not in use for the 
sick, the frame can be laid down, and the cushion laid 
over it, and then with a frill fastened in front, it makes 
a good-looking and most comfortable chamber couch, or 
a lolling sofa for a sitting-room. 

Such a couch saves much labor to friends and nurses, 
because it is so low, so easily moved, and the nurse can 
go around it and work on both sides so easily, while the 
frame raises the patient with great ease and comfort. It 
would be a good plan to engage some carpenter or cabi- 
net-maker, in every village, to provide such an article to 
to rent out, and probably it would be in constant de- 
mand. 

The frame, supporter, hinges. .and screws, must be 
very strong, or they will break, 

Fig. 6 represents a contrivance for securing exercise 
in the open air for invalids, which would often prove con- 
venient and agreeable. 

Such an article can be easily made of the broken toy 
of a child, called a velocipede, or the back wheels of a 
child's wagon. Nothing but shafts are needed, and a 
common rocking-chair, with a foot-board nailed across 



216 ARTICLES AND CONVENIENCES FOR THE SICK. 

Fig. 6. 




the front rocker, on which to rest the feet. The chair 
is then slipped along back to the axle of the wheels, so that 
the shafts, when raised, are under the seat, and lift it up. 
In this way an invalid can be rolled through yards and 
gardens with very little effort, and with great comfort 
and relief to the imprisoned sufferer, who perhaps can 
ride in no other way. 

There is no way of relieving the weariness and nerv- 
ousness of an invalid more effectually than by rubbing 
the limbs and arms with the bare hand of a healthful 
person. 

Those who believe in animal magnetism would say, 
that by this method, the well person imparts a portion 
of the magnetism of a healthful body to aid in restoring 
the sick. Those who do not believe in it, will say that 
it soothes and strengthens the nerves. Either way, 
it is a great comfort to a suffering invalid. 

It is unheal! hful to sleep with a sick person, especial- 
ly one who has lung complaints, as the breath and efflu- 
via from the skin sometimes communicate disease, even 
in complaints not contagious. Young children should 
not sleep with the aged 3 because their healthful fluids 
will be absorbed. 



THE PROVIDING AND CARE OF FAMILY STORES. 217 



CHAPTER XXIII. 

THE PROVIDING AND CARE OF FAMILY STORES. 

The art of keeping a good table, consists, not in load- 
ing on a variety at each meal, but rather in securing a 
successive variety, a table neatly and tastefully set, and 
everything that is on it, cooked in the best manner. 

There are some families who provide an abundance 
of the most expensive and choice articles, and spare no 
expenses in any respect, who yet have everything cook- 
ed in such a miserable way, and a table set in so slov- 
enly a manner, that a person accustomed to a really 
good table, can scarcely taste a morsel with any enjoy- 
ment. 

On the contrary, there are many tables where the 
closest economy is practised, and yet the table-cloth is so 
white and smooth, the dishes, silver, glass, and other ta- 
ble articles so bright, and arranged with such propriety, 
the bread so white, light, and sweet, the butter so beau- 
tiful, and every other article of food so well cooked, and 
so neatly and tastefully served, that everything seems 
good, and pleases both the eye and the palate. 

A habit of doing everything in the best manner, is 
of unspeakable importance to a housekeeper, and every 
woman ought to aim at it, however great the difficulties 
she may have to meet. If a young housekeeper com- 
mences with a determination to try to do everything m 
the best manner, and perseveres in the effort, meeting 
all obstacles with patient cheerfulness, not only the mor- 
al, but the intellectual tone of her mind is elevated by 
the attempt. Although she may meet many insupera- 
ble difficulties, and may never reach the standard at 
which she aims, the simple effort, persevered in, will 
have an elevating influence on her character, while at 
the same time she actually will reach a point of excel- 

19 



218 THE PROVIDING AND CARE 

lence far ahead of those who, discouraged by many ob- 
stacles, give up in despair, and resolve to make no more 
efforts, and let things go as they will. The grand dis- 
tinction between a noble and an ignoble mind is, that 
one will control circumstances ; the other yields, and al- 
lows circumstances to control her. 

It should be borne in mind, that the constitution of 
man demands a variety of food, and that it is just as 
cheap to keep on hand a good variety of materials in the 
store-closet, so as to make a frequent change, as it is to 
buy one or two articles at once, and live on them ex- 
clusively, till every person is tired of them, and then buy 
two or three more of another kind. 

It is too frequently the case, that families fall into 
a very limited round of articles, and continue the same 
course from one year to another, when there is a much 
greater variety within reach, of articles which are just 
as cheap and easily obtained, and yet remain unthought 
of and untouched. 

A thrifty and generous provider, will see that her 
store-closet is furnished with such a variety of articles, 
that successive changes can be made, and for a good length 
of time. To aid in this, a slight sketch of a well-provi- 
ded store-closet will be given, with a description of the 
manner in which each article should be stored and kept, 
in order to avoid waste and injury. To this will be add- 
ed, modes of securing a successive variety^ within the 
reach, of all in moderate circumstances. 

It is best to have a store-closet open from a kitchen, 
because the kitchen fire keeps the atmosphere dry, and 
this prevents the articles stored from moulding, and other 
injury from dampness. Yet it must not be kept warm, 
as there are many articles which are injured by warmth. 

A cool and dry place is indispensable for a store-room, 
and a small window over the door, and another opening 
out-doors, is a great advantage, by securing coolness, 
and a circulation of fresh air. 

Flour should be kept in a barrel, with a flour scoop 
to dip it, a sieve to sift it, and a pan to hold the sifted 
flour, either in the barrel, or close at hand. The barrel 



OF FAMILY STORES. 219 

should have a tight cover to keep out mice and ver- 
min. It is best, when it can be conveniently done, 
to find, by trial, a lot of first-rate flour, and then buy a 
year's supply. But this should not be done, unless there 
are accommodations for keeping it dry and cool, and 
protecting it from vermin. 

Unbolted flour should be stored in barrels, and al- 
ways be kept on hand, as regularly as fine flour. 

Indian meal should be purchased in small quanti- 
ties, say fifteen or twenty pounds at a time, and be kept 
in a covered tub or keg. When new and sweet, it 
should not be scalded, but when not perfectly fresh and 
good when used, it is improved by scalding. It must be 
kept very cool and dry, and if occasionally stirred, is pre- 
served more surely from growing sour or musty. 

Rye should be bought in small quantities, say forty 
or fifty pounds at a time, and be kept in a keg, or half 
barrel with a cover. 

Buckwheat, Bice, Hominy, and Ground Rice, 
must be purchased in small quantities, and kept in cov- 
ered kegs, or tubs. Several of these articles are infest- 
ed with small black insects, and examination must oc- 
casionally be made for them. 

Arrowroot^ Tapioca, Sago, Pearl Barley, Ameri- 
can Isinglass, Macaroni, Yermacelli, and Oatmeal) 
are all articles which help to make an agreeable variety, 
and it is just as cheap to buy a small quantity of each, as 
it is to buy a larger quantity of two or three articles. 
Eight or ten pounds of each of these articles of food can 
be stored in covered jars, or covered wood boxes, and 
then they are always at hand to help make a variety. 
All of them are very healthful food, and help to form 
many delightful dishes for desserts. Some of the most 
healthful puddings are those made of rice, tapioca, 
sago, and macaroni, while isinglass, or American gela- 
tine, form elegant articles for desserts, and is also excel- 
lent for the sick. 

Sugars should not be bought by the barrel, as the 
brown is apt to turn to molasses, and run out on to the 
floor. It is best to keep four qualities of sugar on hand. 



220 THE PROVIDING AND CARE 

Refined loaf for tea, crushed sugar for the nicest pre- 
serves and to use with fruit, nice brown sugar for coffee, 
and common brown for cooking and more common use. 
The loaf can be stored in the papers, on a shelf. The 
others should be kept in close covered kegs, or covered 
wooden articles made for the purpose. 

Butter must be kept in the dryest and coldest place 
you can find, in vessels of either stone, earthen, or wood, 
and never in tin. 

Lard and Drippings must be kept in a dry, cold 
place, and should not be salted. Usually the cellar is 
the best place for them. Earthen, or stone jars are the 
best to store them in. 

Salt must be kept in the dryest place that can be 
found. Rock salt is the best for table salt. It should 
be washed, dried, pounded, sifted, and stored in a glass 
jar, and covered close. It is common to find it growing 
damp in the salt stands for the table. It should then 
be set by the fire to dry, and afterwards be reduced to 
fine powder again. Nothing is more disagreeable than 
coarse or damp salt on a table. 

Vinegar is best made of wine, or cider. Buy a keg, 
or half barrel of it, and set it in the cellar, and then keep 
a supply for the castors in a junk bottle in the kitchen. 
If too strong, it eats the pickles. 

Pickles never must be kept in glazed ware, as the 
vinegar forms a poisonous compound with the glazing. 

Oil must be kept in the cellar. Winter strained 
must be got in cold weather, as the summer strained 
will not burn except in warm weather. The best of 
lard oil is preferred to every other by those who use it. 
Some lard oil is very poor. 

Molasses ■, if bought by the barrel, or half barrel, 
should be kept in the cellar. Sugar bakers' is best 
for the table, and Porto Rico for cooking. If bought in 
small quantities, it should be kept in a demijohn. No 
vessel should be corked or bunged, if filled with molasses, 
as it will swell, and burst the vessel, or run over. 

Hard Soap should be bought by large quantity, and 
laid to harden on a shelf, in a very dry place. It is 



OF FAMILY STORES. 221 

much more economical to buy hard, than soft soap, as 
those who use soft soap are very apt to waste it in using 
it, as they cannot do with hard soap. 

Starch it is best to buy by a large quantity. It comes 
very nicely put up in papers, a pound or two in each 
paper, and packed in a box. Starch, which by the single 
pound is five cents a pound, if bought by the box, is only 
three cents a pound, and this makes a good deal of dif- 
ference, in a large family, by the year. The high-priced 
starch is cheapest in the end. 

Indigo is not always good. When a good lot is 
found by trial, it is best to get enough for a year or two, 
and store it in a tight tin box. 

Coffee it is best to buy by the bag, as it improves by 
keeping. Let it hang in the bag, in a dry place, and it 
loses its rank smell and taste. 

Tea, if bought by the box, is about five cents a pound 
cheaper than by small quantities. If well put up in box- 
es lined with lead, it keeps perfectly. But put up in 
paper, it soon loses its flavor. It therefore should, if in 
small quantities, be put in glass, or tin, and shut tight. 

Saleratus should be bought in small quantities, then 
powdered, sifted, and kept tight corked in a large mouth 
glass bottle. 

It grows damp if exposed to the air, and then cannot 
be used properly. 

Raisins should not be bought in large quantities, as 
they are injured by time. It is test to buy the small 
boxes. 

Currants for cake should be prepared as directed for 
cake, and set by for use in a jar. 

Lemon and Orange Peel should be dried, pounded, 
and set up in corked glass jars. 

Nutmeg, Cinnamon, Cloves, Mace, and Allspice, 
should be pounded fine, and corked tight in small glass 
bottles with mouths large enough for a junk bottle cork, 
and then put in a tight tin box, made for the purpose. 
Or they can be put in small tin boxes with tight covers. 
Essences are as good as spices. 

Sweet Herbs should be dried, and the stalks thrown 

19* 



222 THE PROVIDING- AND CARE OF FAMILY STORES. 

away, and the rest be kept in corked large mouth bottles, 
or small tin boxes. 

Cream Tartar ', Citric and Tartaric Acids, Bicar- 
bonate of Soda, and Essences, should be kept in cork- 
ed glass jars. Sal volatile must be kept in a large-mouth 
bottle, with a ground glass stopper to make it air-tight. 
Use cold water in dissolving it. It must be powdered. 

Preserves and Jellies should be kept in glass or stone, 
in a cool, dry place, well sealed, or tied with bladder cov- 
ers. If properly made, and thus put up, they never will 
ferment. If it is difficult to find a cool, dry place, pack 
the jars in a box, and fill the interstices with sand, very 
thoroughly dried. It is best to put jellies in tumblers, 
or small glass jars, so as to open only a small quantity 
at a time. 

The most easy way of keeping Hams perfectly is to 
wrap and tie them in paper, and pack them in boxes or 
barrels with ashes. The ashes must fill all interstices, 
but must not touch the hams, as it absorbs the fat. It 
is much less labor, and quite as certain a mode as the 
one previously mentioned. It keeps them sweet, and 
protects from all kinds of insects. 

After smoked beef, or ham, are cut, hang them in a 
coarse linen bag in the cellar, and tie it up to keep out 
flies. 

Keep Cheese in a cool, dry place, and after it is cut, 
wrap it in a linen cloth, and keep it in a tight tin box. 

Keep Bread in a tin covered box, and it will keep 
fresh and good longer than if left exposed to the air. 

Cake also should be kept in a tight tin box. Tin 
boxes made with covers like trunks, with handles at the 
ends, are best for bread and cake. 

Smoked herring keep in the cellar. 

Codfish is improved by changing it, once in a while, 
back and forth from garret to cellar. Some dislike to 
have it in the house anywhere. 

All salted provision must be watched, and kept un- 
der the brine. When the brine looks bloody, or smells 
badly, it must be scalded, and more salt put to it, and 
poured over the meat. 



A SUCCESSIVE VARIETY OF FOOD. 223 

Salt fish barrels must not be kept near other food, as 
they impart a fishy smell and taste to it. 

Cabbages and Turnips in the cellar often impart 
a bad smell to a house. All decayed vegetable matter 
should be kept out of a cellar, as it creates a miasma, 
that sometimes causes the most fatal diseases. There- 
fore, always take care of the vegetable bins, and have all 
that are decaying removed. 

A cellar should be whitewashed often, to keep it sweet 
and clean. 



CHAPTER XXIV. 

SUGGESTIONS IN REFERENCE TO PROVIDING A SUCCESSIVE 
VARIETY OF FOOD. 

By a little skill and calculation, a housekeeper may 
contrive to keep a constant change of agreeable varie- 
ties on her table, and that, too, without violating the 
rules either of health or economy. Some suggestions 
will be offered to aid in this object. 

In the first place, much can be effected by keeping 
on hand a good supply of the various bread-stuffs. 
Good raised bread, of fine flour, must be the grand 
staple, but this may, every day, be accompanied with 
varieties of bread made of unbolted flour, or rye and In- 
dian, or Indian alone, or potato and apple bread, or 
rice Dread, or the various biscuits and rusk. It will be 
found that these are all more acceptable, if there are oc- 
casional changes, than if any one of them is continued 
a long time. 

All the dough of these different kinds of bread, when 
light, can, with very little trouble, be made into drop 
cakes, or griddle cakes for breakfast, or tea, by adding 
some milk and eggs, and in some cases a little melted 
lard. 



224 SUGGESTIONS IN REFERENCE TO 

Very fine common cake is also easily made, at eveiy 
baking, by taking some of the dough of bread and 
working in sugar, butter, and eggs, by the receipt given 
for Bread Cake and Child's Feather Cake. These can 
be made more or less sweet and rich at pleasure. 

In the next place, a good supply of fruit in the gar- 
den, and stored in the cellar, enables a housekeeper to 
keep up a constant variety. The directions given under 
the head of Modes of Preparing Apples for the Tea 
Table, will be found very useful for this purpose, while 
those for preparing Mice and Dry Bread are equally 
serviceable in helping out a cheap and convenient 
variety. There are some cheap dishes at the end also, 
which are very good, and easily made. 

The directions for preparing Hashes, also, are rec- 
ommended as a mode of economizing, that is very ac- 
ceptable when properly done. The little relishes ob- 
tained in summer from the garden, are very service- 
able in securing varieties. Among these may be men- 
tioned cucumbers, radishes, cabbage sprouts, Jerusalem 
artichokes, and tomatoes, all of which are very fine 
eaten with salt and vinegar. 

Mush, hominy, tapioca, and rice cooked, and then, 
when cold, fried on a griddle, are great favorites. If 
salt pork rinds are used to grease the griddle, there will 
be so little fat used, that no injury to the most delicate 
stomachs can result from this mode of cooking. 

In winter, the breakfast-table and tea-table can be 
supplied by a most inviting variety of muffins, griddle 
cakes, drop cakes, and waffles made of rice, corn meal, 
and unbolted flour, all of which are very healthful and 
very agreeable to the palate. 

One mode of securing a good variety, in those months 
in spring when fruits and vegetables fail, is by a 
wise providence in drying and preserving fruits and 
vegetables. The following directions will aid in this 
particular. 

Directions for Preserving Fruits and Vegetables. 

Blackberries, whortleberries, currants, raspberries. 



PROVIDING A SUCCESSIVE VARIETY OF FOOD. 225 

peaches, plums, apples, pears, and quinces, can all be 
preserved by drying them in the sun, and then storing 
them in bags in a cool ; dry place. 

Green currants, and green gooseberries, can be pre- 
served thus. Gather them when perfectly dry, put 
them into very dry junk bottles, free from stems and 
eyes, set the bottles uncorked into a kettle of cold water, 
and then make the water boil. Then cork the bottles (the 
fruit should come up to the cork), and seal them with 
bee's wax and rosin. Store them in a dry, cool place, 
where they will not freeze. Everything depends on 
success in excluding air and ivater. Putting them in 
boxes, and filling the interstices w r ith dry sand, is the 
surest mode of storing the bottles. 

There is a receipt for Preserving Fruit in Water, 
that has found its way into many receipt books, which 
seems to the writer to be a dangerous and useless one, 
and never should be tried. 

It directs that fruit be put in bottles, then water pour- 
ed in, and then the bottles corked tight, and the cork 
tied. Then the bottles are to be set in a kettle of wa- 
ter, which is to be heated till it boils. Of course this 
must burst the bottles, or throw out the corks. 

It is probable that the design of some plan of this sort 
was to exclude all air from the fruit. This could be 
done by setting the bottles filled with fruit and water, 
uncorked, in a kettle of water, and making the water 
boil. Then cork the bottles and seal them, and the wa- 
ter will remain, but all air will be excluded. The wri- 
ter never has seen a person who has tried this method, 
and perhaps it may be one in which fruit can be pre- 
served. 

Peach Leather is much relished by invalids, and is 
prepared thus. Squeeze out the pulp of very ripe 
peaches, and spread it half an inch thick on plates or 
shingles, and let it dry till quite hard and tough. Then 
roll it up in layers, with clean paper between. 

Tomato Leather can be made in the same way. 
But the following is the best mode of preserving toma- 
toes. Pour boiling water on to the ripe tomatoes, and peel 



226 A SUCCESSIVE VARIETY OF FOOD. 

them. Boil them till reduced to half the original quan- 
tity^ throwing in. at first, a tea-cup of sugar and a large 
spoonful of salt for every gallon. When reduced to one 
half the quantity, spread it on flat dishes half an inch 
thick, and dry it eight or ten days in the sun, and air. 
Then put it in layers, with paper between. In pre- 
paring it for table, stew it slowly in a good deal of 
water, adding bread crumbs and seasoning. 

Some persons dry them in a brick oven instead of the 
sun. A quicker, but not so nice a way, is simply to cut 
them in two without peeling, and dry them in the oven. 
Tomato Figs are prepared thus : — Scald and peel 
them, and then boil them in one-third the weight of su- 
gar, till they are penetrated by it. Then flatten and 
dry them in the sun, occasionally turning them and 
sprinkling with sugar. When dry, pack them in layers, 
with sugar sprinkled between. 

Green Corn can be preserved by simply turning 
back the husk, all but the last thin layer, and then 
hanging it in the sun, or a very warm room. When it 
is to be used, boil it till soft, and then cut it off the cob 
and mix it with butter, and add, if you like, dried Lima 
beans cooked soft, in another vessel. The summer sweet 
corn is the proper kind to dry. Lima beans can be 
dried in the sun when young and tender. They are 
good to bake, when dried after they are ripe. 

Another mode is to parboil sweet corn, cut it from the 
cobs, and dry it in the sun. Then store it in a dry, cool 
place, in a bag. 

Another way is to take off all the husks but the thin 
one next the corn ; tie this otfer the corn tight, and pack 
it in salt. 

Try each of these ways, and make succotash with 
dried Lima beans, adding a little cream to the broth. If 
done right, it is excellent in winter. In cutting corn 
from cobs, in all cases take care not to cut off any cob, 
as it gives a bad taste. 

Peas, also, are good to dry, and make a fine dish 
thus. Take six or eight pounds of corned beef, put it 
in a large pot and fill it with water, and put in two quarts 



ON BREAD MAKING. 227 

of dried peas. Let them boil till soft, and then add the 
sweet herb seasoning, or take it up without any other 
seasoning than a little pepper and the salt of the meat. 

Beef, cooked thus, is excellent when cold, and the 
pea soup, thus made, is highly relished. No dish is 
cheaper, or more easily prepared. 

Pumpkins and squashes can be peeled and cut in 
strips and dried in the sun. 

The stalks of rhubarb or the pie plant can be sliv- 
ered fine and dried in the sun for winter use. 

A housekeeper who will take pains to have these 
things done in the proper season, and well stored, will 
always keep an inviting table, in those months when 
others so much complain that they can find no variety. 

It is a good plan for a housekeeper the first day, or 
week of every month, to make a calculation of her bill 
of fare for that month, going over such a receipt-book 
as this, and ascertaining how many of the varieties of- 
fered she can secure. At the same time she can be 
laying in stores of articles for future use. System in 
this matter is of essential service. 



CHAPTER XXV. 

ON BREAD MAKING. 

Few housekeepers are aware of their responsibility 
in reference to the bread furnished for their family. As 
this is the principal article of food, there is no one thing 
on which the health of a family, especially of young 
children, is more dependant. 

Baker's bread is often made of musty, sour, or other 
bad flour, which is made to look light, and the bad 
taste removed by unhealthy drugs. Of course, to the 
evil of unhealthy flour, is added unhealthy drugs, and 
there is no mode of discovering the imposition. 



228 ON BREAD MAKING. 

The only safe mode is, to have all bread made in the 
family, and to take all needful care that it shall uni- 
formly be good. 

Bread made of salt, or milk risings, is good only the 
first day, and to those accustomed to good yeast bread, 
it is offensive to the smell, and not acceptable to the 
palate. 

Bread made of sour milk, or buttermilk and an alkali, 
or made by mixing cream tartar in the flour, and an 
alkali in the wetting, is good as an occasional resort, in 
emergencies, when good yeast cannot be preserved, or 
when there is not time to wait for yeast rising. 

But, as the ordinary bread for continued daily use, 
it is expensive, and not healthful or good like yeast 
bread. Some persons suffer from sore mouths and dis- 
ordered stomachs, in consequence of eating it. Some- 
times this is owing to the imperfect mixture of the ma- 
terials. When the cream tartar is not very thorough- 
ly mixed with the flour, or when the alkali is not prop- 
erly dissolved and thoroughly mixed, or when there is 
too much of either, the skin of the mouth and stomach 
are affected by the bread. 

The only kind of bread which is always good for the 
health, and always acceptable to every palate, is sweet, 
well-raised, home-made yeast bread. The best kind 
of home-made yeast bread is an article of luxury to be 
found upon very few tables, and those who enjoy this 
comfort, know that there is no food upon earth, which 
is so good, or the loss of which is so much regretted. 

In order to secure such bread, these three things are 
indispensable, viz. : good flour, good yeast, and good 
care. 

In order to secure good flour, it is best to try it by 
tasting it, and you ordinarily can detect sourness or 
must. Buy a small quantity, and then, if it is found to 
be very superior, and it can be done conveniently, it is 
well to provide enough of it to last till the next crop of 
wheat affords new flour, when another supply for a 
year can be secured. Flour stored in barrels needs no 
other care than putting it in a cool, dry place, where it 






ON BREAD MAKING. 229 

is well protected from rats and cockroaches. A tight 
covered box made of thick plank, large enough to hold 
several barrels, with shelves to hold smaller supplies of 
other bread-stuffs, with a door in one side shutting very 
tight, is a perfect protection from rats, mice, and cock 
roaches. 

Good flour has a yellowish tinge, and when pressed 
tight in the hand, retains the creases of the skin im- 
pressed on it. Poor flour is not thus adhesive ; it can 
be blown about readily, and sometimes has a dingy 
look, as if ashes were mixed with it. 

When good flour is found, notice the brand, and 
seek the same next time. It is sometimes the case, 
however, that bad flour is passed off, by putting on the 
brands of persons who have gained a name as makers 
of superior flour. The only sure way is to try a small 
sample, and then get a larger supply, if it is good, from 
the same stock. 

Grown wheat makes dough that is runny, and can- 
not be well moulded, or make good bread. This can 
be discovered only by trial. Smutty wheat makes 
flour that is very unhealthful. 

Flour always should be sifted before using it, to re- 
store the lightness destroyed by packing, as well as to 
remove impurities. Bread is also more sure to be light, 
if the flour is heated before wetting. This can be done, 
by setting the kneading trough aslant before the fire, 
stirring it a little as it is warming. When bread proves to 
be bad, examine the yeast, and see also whether the oven 
bakes properly. If both are as they should be, and the 
bread is still poor, then the fault is in the flour, and it 
should be sent back and another supply obtained. 
And in buying flour, this liberty should always be se- 
cured, even if a higher price is the condition. No econ- 
omy is so false as to try to save by means of bad bread. 
Medicine and doctors' bills soon show the folly of it. 

Good yeast is as indispensable to good bread as 
good flour. Of the receipts given in this book, the one 
which will keep a month is the best. The one which 

20 



230 ON BREAD MAKING. 

is made with fewer materials will not keep so well, but 
is more easily made. 

In hot weather, when it is difficult to keep yeast, the 
hard yeast will be a great convenience. Some house- 
keepers who have tried both, prefer the flour hard yeast 
to that which is made with Indian meal, as it does not 
turn sour, as Indian does. Home-brewed yeast must 
be used for hard yeast, and not distillery or brewer's. 
Yeast, when it is good, is all in a foam, or else has large 
beads on the surface, and its smell is brisk and pun- 
gent, but not sour. When poor, it sometimes smells sour, 
sometimes looks watery, and the sediment sinks to the 
bottom, and it has no froth or beads. Sometimes, 
when yeast does not look very good, it is improved by 
adding a tea-cup, or so, of flour, and two or three great 
spoonfuls of molasses, and setting it in a warm place to 
rise. Yeast must be kept in stone, or glass, with a 
tight cork, and the thing in which it is kept should 
often be scalded, and then warm water with a half tea- 
spoonful of saleratus be put in it, to stand a while. 
Then rinse it with cold water. Sour yeast cannot be 
made good by saleratus. 

The last grand essential to good bread is good care. 
Unless the cook can be fully trusted, the mistress of a 
family must take this care upon herself. She must, 
if needful, stand by and see that the bread is wet right, 
that the yeast is good, that the bread is put where it is 
warm enough, that it does not rise too long, so as to 
lose its sweetness (which is often the case before it be- 
gins to turn sour), that it is moulded aright, that the 
oven is at the right heat, and that it is taken out at the 
right time, and then that it is put in the right place, 
and not set flat on to a greasy table, or painted shelf, 
to imbibe a bad taste. 

Perhaps it may be thought that all this is a great 
drudgery, but it is worse drudgery to have sickly chil- 
dren, and a peevish husband, made so by having all the 
nerves of their stomachs rasped with sour, or heavy bread. 
A woman should be ashamed to have poor bread, far 
more so, than to speak bad grammar, or to have a dress 



ON BREAD MAKING. 231 

out of the fashion. It is true, that, by accident, the 
best of housekeepers will now and then have poor bread, 
but then it is an accident, and one that rarely happens. 
When it is very frequently the case that a housekeeper 
has poor bread, she may set herself down as a slack 
baked and negligent housekeeper. 

It is very desirable that every family should have a 
constant supply of bread made of unbolted flour, or of 
rye and Indian. Most persons like to eat of it occasion- 
ally, and it tends to promote health. Warm cakes also, 
made of unbolted flour, are very excellent, and ser- 
viceable to health. The receipts for these articles 
in this work are first-rate. Warm raised bread cakes, 
of fine wheat, are not so healthy for breakfast, as 
those made of unbolted flour, Indian meal, rice, or 
tapioca. Griddle cakes, muffins, and waffles, made 
of these last articles, are more healthful than those made 
of fine wheat. If eaten at the right temperature (not 
above blood heat), and with but little butter, they are 
safe and harmless. Unbolted flour is good in almost 
any receipt in which fine flour is to be used, and many 
very much prefer it for all kinds of warm cakes. Brown 
bread, when light, makes good drop cakes, or good grid- 
dle cakes, by adding a little water or milk, and some 
eggs, and in some* cases, a spoonful or two of molasses. 
Many cases are on record, of great changes for the bet- 
ter, in the health of individuals and communities, by 
the habitual use of food made of unbolted flour. 

The style in which bread is prepared for the table, is 
a matter to be carefully attended to. In moulding up 
loaves and small cakes, do not leave lumps and loose 
flour adhering to the outside, but work them in thorough- 
ly, so as to have the cake look fair and smooth. Wipe 
off flour from the outside before carrying to the table. 
Buttered pans are better than floured ones, because the 
cakes cleave off cleaner. When soda and saleratus are 
used, work it in thoroughly, or you will have those yel- 
low spots and streaks, which look so disgusting, and show 
a slovenly negligence. 

In the receipts for making bread, no particular direc- 



232 ON BREAD MAKING. 

tion is given in regard to the time bread should stand 
after it is moulded and put in pans, because here is the 
point where observation and discretion are so indispensa- 
ble, and rules are unavailing without. In hot weather, 
when the yeast is very good, and the bread very light, it 
must not stand over fifteen minutes after it is moulded, 
before setting in. If it is cold weather, and the yeast is 
less active, or the bread not perfectly raised, it may some- 
times stand an hour in the pans without injury. 

When it is risen in the pans so as to crack, it is ready 
for the oven, and if it stands after this it loses sweetness, 
and then turns sour. A great deal of bread is spoiled by 
standing too long after it is put in the pans. The only 
way to prevent this is for the housekeeper to ascertain, 
by experiment, how soon her yeast ordinarily raises 
bread to the right point, so as to make that full lightness 
which does not destroy the sweetness of the flour, and 
yet is complete. When this is secured, the bread should 
not stand more than fifteen minutes after moulding, un- 
less it is very cold weather. Those who trust entirely 
to raising the bread after it is put into the pans, are much 
less likely to have the best kind of bread, and far more 
risk is run than in the way here given. 

In summer, if the milk is not new, it should be scald- 
ed, or the bread will turn sour by keeping. Bread is 
never as good which has turned sour, and been sweeten- 
ed with saleratus, as if it had risen only just enough. In 
using saleratus, take a teaspoonful to each quart of wet- 
ting used ; or, which is the same thing, a teaspoonful to 
four quarts of flour. 

The proportion of yeast is about a tablespoonful of 
brewer's or distiller's yeast for every quart of wetting, or 
twice as much home-brewed yeast. In warm weather, 
pour the wetting boiling hot into the flour, and the bread 
keeps better. But be careful not to kill the yeast by put- 
ting it in before the mixture is sufficiently cooled. About 
blood warmth is the right temperature. 

The eastern brown bread rises faster than the wheat 
bread, and in hot weather cannot be made over night ; 



ON BREAD MAKING. 233 

and if made with other bread, must be set to rise in a 
cool place. 

It is always best to keep bread several hours before 
eating, until it can be cut without making it clammy. 
Biscuits, and small cakes of bread, are best baked in the 
morning to use for tea, and in the evening for breakfast. 
When cake is to be made of bread dough, it ought to be 
wet up with milk. 

Most of the rules which have been given in other 
books for making cream tartar bread and cakes allow 
too much of the acid and alkali, and this affects the 
health. 

Three pints of flour to one teaspoonful of soda and 
two of cream tartar is about right. Domestics are often 
careless in getting right proportions, and thus health is 
injured. It is probable that this can be remedied by get- 
ting an apothecary to combine the two powders in the 
right proportions when very dry, and keeping them in 
a glass bottle, with a ground glass stopper, so as to be 
air-tight. The dampness of the air would make them 
combine, and neutralize them. There are yeast pow- 
ders for sale of this kind. The way to use them is 
first to mix them thoroughly in the flour, and then put 
in the wetting. 

In regard to yeast, the distillery rises fastest, the brew- 
er's nearly as fast, and the home-brewed slowest of all. 
Sometimes distillery yeast will raise bread in an hour. 
Every housekeeper must learn by trial the time neces- 
sary to raise bread, and by this calculate the time to put 
her oven heating. 

For large loaves of bread or cake, the oven must be 
heated with hard wood, so as to soak thoroughly. For 
smaller things lighter wood is as good, and more eco- 
nomical. After a housekeeper has tried her oven, her 
yeast, and her oven wood, she can make out very mi- 
nute directions for her domestics. But with poor domes- 
tics she ordinarily will need to persevere in superintend- 
ing this matter herself, if she would always have good 
bread. 

20* 



234 DIRECTIONS FOR DINNER 



CHAPTER XXVI. 

DIRECTIONS FOR DINNER AND EVENING PARTIES. 

The following directions for a dinner-party are de- 
signed for a young and inexperienced housekeeper, in 
moderate circumstances, who receives visiters at her ta- 
ble from the most wealthy circles. 

They are not intended for what would be called a 
stylish dinner-party, but what in New York, Philadel- 
phia, and Boston, in the most respectable society, would 
be called a plain, substantial dinner, and as complete 
and extensive as any young housekeeper, with the 
ordinary supply of domestics, ought to attempt any- 
where. Anything much more elaborate than this, 
usually demands the services of a professed cook. The 
details will be given with great minuteness, that a nov- 
ice may know exactly what to do in every particular. 

It is generally the case, that, at dinner-parties for gen- 
tlemen, no ladies are present but those who are mem- 
bers of the family. The gentleman of the house in- 
vites his friends the day previous, and then gives notice 
to his wife who are to come, and consults with her as to 
the articles to be provided, which of course he aids in 
purchasing. 

The housekeeper then makes a list of all the articles 
to be used, either for table furniture or cooking, and then 
examines her cupboard, store-closet, and cellar, to see if 
everything is at hand and in order. All the glass and 
silver to be used is put in readiness, and the castors, salts, 
and everything of the kind arranged properly. In order 
to be more definite, the exact dishes to be provided will 
be supposed to be these : 

Soup. Fish. A boiled ham. A boiled turkey, with 
oyster sauce. Three roasted ducks, and a dish of scol- 



AND EVENING PARTIES. 235 

loped oysters. Potatoes, Parsnips, Turnips, and Celery. 
For dessert, Pudding, Pastry, Fruit, and Coffee. 

This will make a dinner for about ten or twelve per- 
sons. The pastry should be baked the day before, and 
the soup boiled down. 

In the morning of the day for the dinner-party, every 
article should be on hand from market, and the cook 
have extra help, so as to get breakfast and the dishes 
out of the way early. 

Then, the first thing, let her stuff and truss the tur- 
key and ducks, and set them away to use when the 
time comes. Be sure that they are trussed so that the 
legs and wings will be tight to the body, and not come 
sprawling on to the table. 

Suppose the dinner hour be three o'clock, as this is 
the earliest hour at which such a dinner could be com- 
fortably prepared. 

At nine o'clock, let the ham be washed, and put to 
boil. Then let the vegetables be prepared, ready for 
cooking. Next prepare the pudding. The pastry ought 
to be baked the day before. If not, it should be done 
very early in the morning, and be out of the way. 

The pudding should be one of those put in the list of 
rich puddings, which does not require long baking or 
boiling. The receipt will be the guide as to time 
for cooking it. Next, prepare the oysters. One large 
cannister (or three pints) will be needed for the dish of 
scolloped oysters, and a small cannister (or a pint) will 
be needed for the sauce for the turkey. This last is 
simply drawn butter, with the oysters put in it, and sim- 
mered a few minutes. Be sure and follow the receipt 
for drawn butter exactly, as cooks are very apt to spoil 
this kind of sauce. 

Put the turkey to boil at one, if it is tender, as it 
ought to be, and sooner, if it is not. Put the ducks to 
roast at two. Ducks are best cooked rare, but the tur- 
key must be boiled through entirely, so that all parts 
look the same color when carved. 

The gravy for the ducks, and the drawn butter, must 
be prepared half an hour before taking up dinner. The 



236 DIRECTIONS FOR DINNER 

fish must be put to boil in a fish kettle. The time 
depends on the size. 

The soup should be boiled down the day before. Let 
it be, for example, the receipt named Macaroni Soup. 
In this case, any convenient time before dinner-time, 
put the macaroni to boil in a sauce-pan by itself, and 
when cooked enough, set it aside. Then, just before 
dinner is to be served, pour the cold soup into the kettle, 
add the seasoning and macaroni, and give it such a heat 
as just boils it for a minute or two, and then it is ready 
to serve. 

The vegetables should be put to boil at such times as 
will have them cooked just right at the dinner hour, 
and this the housekeeper must calculate, according to 
their size and age. 

Unless there is an experienced cook, who can be 
trusted with everything, the lady of the house must 
superintend herself in the kitchen, until it is time for 
her to dress ; and as the company will not arrive till the 
hour appointed, she can, by arranging her dress, all but 
the finish, remain until it is nearly time to send up the 
dinner. 

Setting the Table. 

The table should be set early in the forenoon, by the 
waiter, under the direction of the lady of the house, and 
in the manner exhibited in Fig. 7. 

The. table rug must first be laid exactly square with 
the room, and the tables also set exactly parallel with 
the sides of the room. If the tables are handsome ones, 
put on two white table-cloths, one above the other. If 
the tables are not handsome, cover them with a colored 
table-cloth, and put two white ones over. 

Then set the castors in the exact centre of the table. 
Some prefer to have them on a side- table, and the wait- 
er carry them around, but the table looks better to have 
them put in the centre. If they are put on the side- 
table, the celery stand may be placed in the centre of 
the table. 

Next place the plates and knives as in Fig. 7, with a 



AND EVENING PARTIES. 237 

napkin and tumbler at the right of each plate, as in the 
drawing. If it is cold weather, set the plates to warm, 
and leave them till wanted. Set the salt stands at the 
four corners, with two large spoons crossed by each, as 
in the drawing. 

Then place table-mats in the places where the dish- 
es are to be set. The host is to be seated at one end, 
and the hostess at the other, and at their plates put two 
knives and two forks. Put a carving knife and fork, 
and carver stand, at each place w r here a dish is to be 
carved. Put the jelly and pickles at diagonal corners, 
as marked on the drawing. If wine is to be used, put 
two wine-glasses by each tumbler. Just before dinner 
is to be served, a bit of bread, cut thick, is to be laid with 
a fork on each napkin. 

Then prepare the side-table thus : 

As the party, including host and hostess, will be 
twelve, there must be one dozen soup plates, and one doz- 
en silver spoons. Then there must be two dozen large 
knives, and three dozen large plates, besides those on 
the table. This is to allow one plate for fish, and two 
for two changes of meat for each guest. Some would 
provide more. Then, there must be three dozen dessert 
plates, and two dozen dessert knives and forks. One 
dozen saucers, and one dozen dessert spoons. One or 
two extra of each kind, and three or four extra nap- 
kins, should be added for emergencies. (At a side stand, 
or closet, should be placed, at dinner-time, a wash dish 
of hot water, and two or three wiping towels.) 

On the side-table, also, is to be placed all articles to 
be used in helping the dessert ; and unless there is 
a convenient closet for the purpose, the dessert itself 
must be set there, and covered with napkins. 

All the dishes and plates to be used, except those for 
desserts and soups, must, in cold weather, be set to 
warm by the waiter. If coffee is to be served at the 
dinner-table, the furniture for this must be put on the 
side- table, or in an adjacent room, or closet. 



238 DIRECTIONS FOR DINNER 






Taking up the Dinner. 

Such a dinner as this cannot usually be prepared and 
served easily, without two to cook and serve in the 
kitchen, and two waiters in the dining-room. One 
waiter will answer, if he is experienced and expert in 
such matters. 

When the hour for dinner arrives, let the cook first 
take up the soup and fish. The soup and soup plates 
are to be set by the hostess, and .the spoons laid near. 
Potatoes and drawn butter, or fish sauce, are to be sent 
up with fish. 

The fish is to be set before the host, and the fish 
knife and sauce placed by it, and then the waiter is to 
inform the lady of the house that dinner is ready. She 
rises, and informs her husband, or the guests, that din- 
ner is ready, and then the gentleman for whom the 
party is made, or some other one of the invited guests, 
conducts the lady to the table, and takes his seat at the 
first plate at her right hand. She then helps the soup, 
beginning at the right, and passing it around in order, 
without inquiring whether each one wishes it. If any 
one prefers fish, he passes the soup to the next. Mean- 
time the host either helps the fish to all who wish it, or 
leaves it covered till the soup is removed, and the plates 
changed. The plates for fish are set on, around the 
table, and the soup plates are set on to them, while soup 
is served. 

While soup and fish are served above, the cook be- 
low proceeds thus : — The ham can be taken up some 
time before dinner, prepared for the table, and set aside, 
covered, as it is not injured by standing. Of course this 
is done at any convenient time. The turkey and ducks 
may first be taken up, prepared for table, and then cov- 
ered, and set where they will be kept warm. Then the 
gravies and drawn butter are to be put in the gravy 
boats. The vegetables must be taken up the last thing, 
and the potatoes last of all, as the excellence of all de- 
pends on their being served hot, especially potatoes. 
Some would prepare a dish of mashed potatoes, but this 



AND EVENING PARTIES. 239 

increases the complexity of the business, which should, 
as much as possible, be avoided. 

After soup and fish, and the plates are removed by 
the waiters above, and clean plates put around, wine or 
conversation will fill up the time, while the meats are 
brought on, which are to be placed on the table, cover- 
ed, and in the order marked in the drawing, Fig. 7. 

When all are prepared, the host gives a sign to the 
waiters, and the covers are all to be removed, and so 
adroitly that no steam be spilt on the table-cloth or 
guests. To do this, the covers must be first inverted, 
holding them directly over the dishes they cover, and 
this the hostess must teach the waiter to do beforehand, 
if need be. He is to be taught, also, to offer each article 
to guests on their left side, to observe when guests have 
done eating, and then to change their plate, knife, and 
fork, and never to speak except to answer questions, or 
to offer the articles he serves. 

The host carves the dish before him. The hostess 
helps the dish opposite to her, and the gentlemen guests 
carve the dishes opposite to them. As soon as ready to 
help, the lady asks the gentleman at her right to what 
he will be helped, and never makes excuses for, or 
praises any particular dish. The host commences at 
his right hand, and does the same, till all are helped. 
Every person begins to eat as soon as helped. The 
waiters are to observe if bread, water, or anything is 
w T anting to any guest, and offer a supply. The hostess 
should, if possible, be at ease, so as to converse, and if 
she has occasion to direct the waiters (which, by pre- 
vious instructions, should be avoided), she should do it 
as quietly and easily as possible. After all the guests 
are helped, the host helps the hostess, and then himself. 

If wine is used, it is served by the host immediately 
after soup and fish, and any other times during the 
dinner he chooses. If the lady of the house is asked to 
drink wine, it is deemed uncourteous to refuse. She is 
expected to have a little poured into her glass, and raise 
it to her lips, looking at and slightly bowing to the 
guest who makes the request, and as soon as he has fill- 



240 DIRECTIONS FOR DINNER 

ed his glass. Whenever any other makes the same 
request, a very little wine is to be poured into her glass, 
as the ceremony is incomplete without this. 

After any guest has finished eating, the waiter is 
to change his plate, knife, and fork, and the host or 
hostess asks to what he will be helped. 

Soon after all the guests are done eating meats, the 
hostess directs the waiter, and every article is removed 
from the table, and the upper table-cloth taken off. 
Then the dessert knives, forks, and plates are set around, 
and the dessert is placed on the table. The pudding is 
to be set on a mat, before the hostess, and the dish of 
cheese before the host, and the pastry arranged in some 
regular order on the table, with knives and forks to 
help. These are divided and distributed by the host 
and hostess, assisted by the guests. 

When these are finished, everything is removed again, 
and the other table-cloth taken off, leaving the bare ta- 
ble, or the colored cloth. Then the fruit is set on. 
After fruit, the coffee is brought to the table, or the 
company retire to the drawing-room, and take their 
coffee there. 



Such a dinner-party as the above, may be got up 
and carried through comfortably by a housekeeper, if 
she is provided with an experienced cook and well- 
trained waiter. But without these, it is absolute 
cruelty for a husband to urge, or even to allow his wife 
to go through all the toil, anxiety, and effort needful for 
such an affair. 

In all cases, it would be more consistent with the 
laws of health, and thus with the laws of God, to have 
a dinner including far less variety, and it is hoped that 
as true Christianity and true refinement advance, that 
the reform in regard to eating will advance, like the 
temperance reform in regard to drinking. 

When men become so refined and cultivated, that 
they can supply wit and good sense, instead of the 
overflows induced by the excitement of wine, diluted by 



AND EVENING PARTIES. 241 

the stupidity resulting from excess in eating, a house- 
keeper will find the giving of a dinner-party a very dif- 
ferent matter from what it ordinarily is found to be. 
As dining parties are often conducted, the number, and 
variety, and character of the dishes offered, tempt to an 
excess, which overloads the stomach, and thus stupifies 
the brain ; so that all the wit and brilliancy that is ob- 
tained, is the simple product of vinous fermentation. 

Tea Parties and Evening Company. 

In one respect, fashion has aided to relieve a house- 
keeper of much care in providing evening entertain - 
ments. It is now fashionable to spread a table for 
evening parties, and not to serve tea and coffee, as was 
formerly done. As this is the easiest, and most ration- 
al way of entertaining evening company, no other 
method will be so minutely described. 

If a lady designs to invite from forty to sixty friends 
to pass the evening, or even to have a much larger com- 
pany invited, the following would be called a plain but 
genteel arrangement, for company in New York, Phila- 
delphia, or any of our large cities. 

Set a long table in the dining-room, and cover it with 
a handsome damask cloth. Set some high article con- 
taining flowers, or some ornamental article, in the cen- 
tre. Set Champagne glasses with flowers at each cor- 
ner. Set loaves of cake at regular distances, and dis- 
pose in some regular order about the table, preserves, 
jellies, lemonade, and any other articles that may be 
selected from the abundant variety offered in the collec- 
tion of Receipts for Evening Parties in this book. 

Where a very large company is to be collected, and a 
larger treat is thought to be required, then a long table 
is set in the centre of the room, as above, and on it are 
placed cakes, pastry, jellies, and confectionary. Then 
smaller tables are set each side of a mantle, or in cor- 
ners, one of which is furnished with sandwiches, oysters, 
salad, celery, and wine, and the other with coffee, choco- 
late, and lemonade. Sometimes all are placed on one 

21 



242 DIRECTIONS FOE, DINNER AND EVENING PARTIES. 

long table, and in this case, cakes, jellies, and confec- 
tionary are put in the centre, coffee and lemonade at 
one end, and oysters, sandwiches, celery, and wines at 
the other. A great deal of taste may be displayed in 
preparing and arranging such a table. 

As it is often the case, that the old mode of serving 
tea and coffee will be resorted to, one modification is 
proposed, which decreases the labour and anxiety to the 
housekeeper, and increases the enjoyment of the com- 
pany. It is this. Set a table in one of the parlors, and 
cover it with a damask cloth. Let the tea and coffee 
be served at this table, the lady of the house presiding. 
Then let the gentlemen wait upon the ladies around 
the room, and then help themselves. This is particu- 
larly convenient when it is difficult to get good waiters. 

Most of the articles used for evening parties (with 
the exception of rich cakes, w r ine, and high-seasoned 
chicken salad) are not unhealthful, if taken moderately. 

When these parties break up at seasonable hours, 
they may prove one of the most rational and harmless 
modes of securing social enjoyment ; but when connect- 
ed with highly exciting amusements, and late hours, 
they are sure to wear upon the constitution and health, 
and rational and conscientious persons, for these and 
other reasons, will avoid them. 



': ...::. . :.::., :.".. 2M 



PTER XXVIL 
cm serrorc tables, asd mPAxme vawocs articles aw 

a person accustomed to a good table, the maimer 
in which the table u set, and the mode in which 
food k prepared and set on, has a great influence, not 
cttljr on the eye, bat the appetite. Ahousekeeper ought. 
therefore, to attend carefully to these particulars 

The table-doth should always be -nd well 

washed and ironed. When taken from the table, it 
should be folded in the ironed creases, and some heavy 
article laid on it. A heavy bit of plank, smoothed and 
kept foe the purpose^ is useful By this method, the 
table-cloth looks tidy much longer than when it is less 
carefully laid a.~ide. 

Where table napkins are used, care should be taken 
to keep the same one to each person, and in laying 
them aade, they should be folded so as to bide the soil- 
ed places, and laid under pressure 

The table-doth should always be put or, and 

right side upward The articles of furniture should be 
placed as exhibited in figures 7 and 8. 

The bread for breakiast and tea should be cut in 
even, regular slices, not over a fourth of an inch thick, 
and all crumbs removed from the bread plate. They 
should be piled in a regular form, and if the dices are 
faig e. they shoal/i be divided. 

hould be coded in cold water, if not at 
ready hard, and then cut into a smooth and regular 
fcrml and a butter knife be laid by the plate, to be used 
for no <*her purpose but to help the butter. 

Small mats, or cup plates, mould be placed at each 
plate, to receive the tea-cup. when it would otherwise be 
set upon the tablecloth and stain ic 



244 



ON SETTING TABLE, AND 



Fig. 7. 



"Ql/Qi Q Q^Qi 





G ) ® 



® © 







©f D J© 

Of Oa Oa lOsO 



A, Castors. 

B, Boiled Turkey. 
C 5 Oyster Sauce. 
D, Roasted Ducks. 
E 3 Gravy for Ducks. 



F, Scolloped Oysters. 

G, Boiled Ham. 
H. Potatoes. 

I, Turnips. 
S, Celery. 



K, Parsnips. 
PP, Pickles. 
JJ, Jelly. 
X, Host. 
Y, Hostess. 



A 


Fig. 8. C 


?o ?o so 


@® o 
o 


o 

OpOGl 


vpoc0 

c 


o 

>a Os Os 



All the flour should be wiped from small cakes, and 
the crumbs be kept from the bread plate. 

In preparing dishes for the dinner-table, all water 



PREPARING ARTICLES FOR THE TABLE. 245 

should be carefully drained from vegetables, and the 
edges of the platters and dishes should be made perfect- 
ly clean and neat. 

All soiled spots should be removed from the outside of 
pitchers, gravy boats, and every article used on the ta- 
ble ; the handles of the knives and forks must be clean, 
and the knives bright and sharp. 

In winter, the plates, and all the dishes used, both for 
meat and vegetables, should be set to the fire to warm, 
when the table is being set, as cold plates and dishes 
cool the vegetables, gravy, and meats, which by many 
is deemed a great injury. 

Cucumbers, when prepared for table, should be laid 
in cold water for an hour or two to cool, and then be 
peeled and cut into fresh cold water. Then they should 
be drained, and brought to the table, and seasoned the 
last thing. 

The water should be drained thoroughly from all 
greens and salads. 

There are certain articles which are usually set on 
together, because it is the fashion, or because they are 
suited to each other. 

Thus with strong-flavored meats, like mutton, goose, 
and duck, it is customary to serve the strong-flavored 
vegetables, such as onions and turnips. Thus, turnips 
are put in mutton broth, and served with mutton, and 
onions are used to stuff geese and ducks. But onions 
are usually banished from the table and from cooking, 
on account of the disagreeable flavor they impart to the 
atmosphere and breath. 

Boiled Poultry should be accompanied with boiled 
ham, or tongue. 

Boiled Rice is served with poultry as a vegetable. 

Jelly is served with mutton, venison, and roasted 
meats, and is used in the gravies for hashes. 

Fresh Pork requires some acid sauce, such as cran- 
berry, or tart apple sauce. 

Drawn Butter, prepared as in the receipt, with eggs 
in it, is used with boiled fowls and boiled fish. 

Pickles are served especially with fish, and Soy is a 

21* 



246 ON SETTING TABLES, ETC. 

fashionable sauce for fish, which is mixed on the plate 
with drawn butter. 

There are modes of garnishing dishes, and prepar- 
ing them for table, which give an air of taste and re- 
finement, that pleases the eye. 

Thus, in preparing a dish of fricasseed fowls, or stew- 
ed fowls, or cold fowls warmed over, small cups of boil- 
ed rice can be laid inverted around the edge of the plat- 
ter, to eat with the meat. 

Sweetbreads fried brown in lard, and laid around such 
a dish, give it a tasteful look. 

On Broiled Ham, or Veal, eggs boiled, or fried and 
laid, one on each piece, look well. 

Greens and Asparagus should be well drained, and 
laid on buttered toast, and then slices of boiled eggs be 
laid on the top, and around. 

Hashes, and preparations of pig's and calve's head 
and feet, should be laid on toast, and garnished with 
round slices of lemon. 

Curled Parsley, or Common Parsley, is a pretty 
garnish, to be fastened to the shank of a ham, to con- 
ceal the bone, and laid around the dish holding it. It 
looks well laid around any dish of cold slices of tongue 3 
ham, or meat of any kind. 

The proper mode of setting a dinner-table is shown 
at Fig. 7, and the proper way of setting a tea-table is 
shown at Fig. 8. In this drawing of a tea-table, small- 
sized plates are set around, with a knife, napkin, and 
cup plate laid by each, in a regular manner, while the 
articles of food are to be set, also, in regular order. On 
the waiter are placed the tea-cups and saucers, sugar 
bowl, slop bowl, cream cup, and two or three articles for 
tea, coffee, and water, as the case may be. This draw- 
ing may aid some housekeepers in teaching a domestic 
how to set a tea-table, as the picture will assist the mem- 
ory in some cases. On the dinner table, by each plate, 
is a knife, fork, napkin, and tumbler : on the tea-table, 
by each plate is a knife, napkin, and small cup-plate. 



SYSTEMATIC FAMILY ARRANGEMENT, ETC. 247 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

ON SYSTEMATIC FAMILY ARRANGEMENT, AND MODE OF DOING 

WORK. 

Nothing secures ease and success in housekeeping so 
efficiently as system in arranging work. In order to aid 
those who are novices in these matters, the following out- 
lines are furnished by an accomplished housekeeper. 
They are the details of family work, in a family of ten 
persons, where a cook, chambermaid, and boy, are all the 
domestics employed, and where the st}de of living is plain, 
but every way comfortable. The mistress of this fami- 
ly arranges the work for each domestic, and writes it on 
a large card, which is suspended in the kitchen for gui- 
dance and reference. On hiring a new cook, or cham- 
bermaid, these details are read to her, and the agree- 
ment made, with a full understanding, on both sides, of 
what is expected. The following is copied, verbatim, 
from these cards prepared for the cook and chamber- 
maid. 

Directions for the Cook. 

Sunday. — Rise as early as on other days. No work is 
to be done that can be properly avoided. 

Monday. — Rise early in hot weather, to have the 
cool of the day for work. Try to have everything done 
in the best manner. See that the clothes line is brought 
in at night, and the clothes pins counted and put in the 
bag. Put the tubs, barrel, and pails used, on the cellar 
bottom. 

Inquire every night, before going to bed, respecting 
breakfast, so as to make preparation beforehand. 

Tuesday. — Clean the kitchen and sink-room. Bake, 
and fold the clothes to iron the next day. 



248 SYSTEMATIC FAMILY ARRANGEMENT, 

Wednesday.— Rise early in warm weather, so as to 
iron in the cool of the day. 

Thursday.— Fold off the clothes. No other special 
work. 

Friday. — Clean all the closets, the kitchen windows, 
the cellar stairs, and the privies. Try up all the grease, 
and put it away for use. 

Saturday. — Bake, and prepare a dinner for Sunday. 

Every day but Monday, wipe the shelves in the pan- 
try and kitchen closet. 

Be careful to have clean dish towels, and never use 
them for other purposes. 

Keep a good supply of holders, both for cooking and 
ironing, and keep them hung up when not in use. 

Keep your boiler for dish water covered. 

Sweep and dust the kitchen every day. 

Never throw dirt, bones, or paper around the doors or 
yard. 

Never give or lend what belongs to the family with- 
out leave. 

Try to keep everything neat, clean, and in order. 

Have a time for everything, a place for every- 
thing •, and everything in its place. 

The hour for going to bed is ten o'clock. Those 
who work hard should go to bed early, or else health 
and eyesight will fail. 

Directions for the Chambermaid. 

Sweep the sitting-room before breakfast on Tuesdays 
and Saturdays. 

Wednesday, give all the chambers a thorough sweep- 
ing, and wash down the stairs. 

Thursday, sweep the bedroom and nursery, and wipe 
the paint. Put up the clean clothes, after the cook folds 
them. 

Friday, wash the windows and the piazzas. 

Saturday, sweep the chambers, wash the bowls and 
pitchers in hot suds, and scald the other vessels, unless 
they are washed in hot suds daily, when they will not 
need it. 



AND MODE OF DOING WORK. 249 

After doing the daily chamber-work, collect the lamps, 
and fix them in this manner : 

First pick up the wicks ? and cut them off square 
(and for this purpose keep sharp scissors), then clean all 
the black sediment from the tubes. Wash them in suds 
as hot as you can bear your hand in, and wipe them 
dry with a cloth kept clean for the purpose, and used 
for nothing else. Be careful not to fill them full, lest 
the oil swell and run over. Screw them very tight, and 
see that the little air-hole is kept open, or the lamp will 
not burn. 

Wash the outside of the oil filler, and wipe the scis- 
sors clean. Wash the cloths used in fresh, clean suds, 
dry them, and then put them in their place. Wipe the 
basin used, and put it in its place. 

After cleaning the lamps, wash and scour the knives, 
thus : 

Wash them first, and be careful not to put the han- 
dles in the water. Wipe them dry, and then scour them 
with Bath brick, and a cork dipped in soft soap. Nev- 
er rub a knife on a board in scouring it, as it wears it 
out very fast. 

After scouring, do not wash them, but wipe them 
with a dry cloth, and be careful to get the brick out 
from between the fork tines. Use a small stick prepa- 
red for the purpose. If the handles are soiled by scour- 
ing, wipe them with a damp cloth. 

Lay the large knives in one side of the knife basket, 
and the small ones the other side, and put the handles of 
the knives one way, and the handles of the forks the 
opposite way. 

Always fill the boiler after you take out dish water, 
lest the cook be disturbed by your neglecting it. 

Arrange the china-closet in order, after putting up 
the breakfast dishes. Dishes not often used must be 
wiped when used. 

In doing chamber-work, turn up the vallance of the 
beds, set the windows open, brush down cobwebs, move 
every moveable article, to sweep under it, and sweep 
with short strokes. 



250 SYSTEMATIC FAMILY ARRANGEMENT, 

Always hang the cloths kept for wiping bowls and 
pitchers on the towel frames, and use them for nothing 
else. 

Have a dust cloth with a loop for every room, and 
put it in the wash once a fortnight. 

Wash the breakfast dishes thus : — Rinse the cups, 
scrape the plates very clean, put the bits of butter on 
the butter plate, and empty all the slops into the slop 
bowl, and then empty it. 

First wash the glass things with a swab in suds, as 
hot as possible, wiping each one as soon as taken out 
of the water. When glass is very cold, put a little warm 
water in it before putting it into the hot suds, or you 
will crack it. 

Next wash the silver and Britannia, wiping each as 
soon as taken out. Then wash the other articles. 

Keep the castors bright and clean, and well filled. 
Wipe the salt spoons dry, and do not lay them so as to 
touch the salt. If the salt is damp, take it out and 
dry it, mashing it to powder. 

Wipe off the china-closet shelves every day, and Sat- 
urdays wash them. 

Rub the silver and Britannia every Saturday, after 
washing them. 



In the Domestic Economy, at p. 318, will be found di- 
rections for washing dishes in the kitchen, which are to 
be hung over the sink. 

Every family must vary somewhat from all others in 
its routine of family work, and it often is the case, that 
such written directions will be of little or no use to do- 
mestics. But the fact of having them written, and the 
reading of them over to all new-comers, as what is ex- 
pected of them, and occasional reference to them, as 
what was agreed on when making the bargain, often 
will be of much service. And it is an aid to the house- 
keeper herself, who is liable to forget many things in 
teaching new-comers their duties. 



AND MODE OF DOING WORK. 251 

Odds and Ends. 

There are certain odds and ends : where every house- 
keeper will gain much by having a regular time to 
attend to them. Let this time be the last Saturday 
forenoon in every month, or any other time more agree- 
able, but let there be a regular fixed time once a 
month, in which the housekeeper will attend to the fol- 
lowing things : 

First, go around to every room, drawer, and closet in 
the house, and see what is out of order, and what needs 
to be done, and make arrangements as to time and 
manner of doing it. 

Second, examine the store-closet, and see if there is 
a proper supply of all articles needed there. 

Third, go to the cellar, and see if the salted provis- 
ion, vegetables, pickles, vinegar, and all other articles 
stored in the cellar are in proper order, and examine all 
the preserves and jellies. 

Fourth, examine the trunk, or closet of family linen, 
and see what needs to be repaired and renewed. 

Fifth, see if there is a supply of dish towels, dish 
cloths, bags, holders, floor cloths, dust cloths, wrapping 
paper, twine, lamp-wicks, and all other articles needed 
in kitchen work. 

Sixth, count over the spoons, knives, and forks, and 
examine all the various household utensils, to see what 
need replacing, and what should be repaired. 

A housekeeper who will have a regular time for at- 
tending to these particulars, will find her whole family 
machinery moving easily and well ; but one who does 
not, will constantly be finding something out of joint, 
and an unquiet, secret apprehension of duties left un- 
done, or forgotten, which no other method will so effect- 
ually remove. 

A housekeeper will often be much annoyed by the 
accumulation of articles not immediately needed, that 
must be saved for future use. The following method, 
adopted by a thrifty housekeeper, may be imitated with 
advantage. She bought some cheap calico, and made 



252 UTENSILS AND CONVENIENCES 

bags of various sizes, and wrote the following labels 
with indelible ink on a bit of broad tape, and sewed 
them on one side of the bags: — Old Linens ; Old 
Cottons; Old Black Silks ; Old Colored Silks; 
Old Stockings ; Old Colored Woollens ; Old Flan- 
nels ; New < Linen ; New Cotton ; New Woollens ; 
New Silks ; Pieces of Dresses ; Pieces of Boys' 
Clothes, &c. These bags were hung around a closet, 
and filled with the above articles, and then it was 
known where to look for each, and where to put each 
when not in use. 

Another excellent plan is for a housekeeper once a 
month to make out a bill of fare for the four weeks to 
come. To do this, let her look over this book, and find 
out what kind of dishes the season of the year and her 
own stores will enable her to provide, and then make 
out a list of the dishes she will provide through the 
month, so as to have an agreeable variety for breakfasts, 
dinners, and suppers. Some systematic arrangement 
of this kind at regular periods will secure great comfort 
and enjoyment to a family. 



CHAPTER XXIX. 

ON A PROPER SUPPLY OF UTENSILS AND CONVENIENCES FOR 
HOUSEKEEPING. 

What is the proper supply of kitchen utensils, de- 
pends very much on the style of living adopted, and on 
the character of the domestics employed. Where a per- 
son's means are small, there must be a sacrifice of time 
and convenience to save expense ; and where domestics 
are in such habits that no proper care will be taken of 
utensils, the supply must be more limited. 

But where a housekeeper has abundant means, and 
where she can, by a reasonable effort, secure proper 
attention to the care of utensils, it greatly contributes 



FOR HOUSEKEEPING. 253 

to the ease and success of housekeeping to have a full 
supply of them. And there is much economy, both of 
time and comfort, in securing such a supply. Where 
there are a few utensils, and these are to be used for a 
great variety of purposes, there is a loss of time in stop- 
ping to clean articles used for one thing, when wanted 
for another ; there is a loss of time in running about to 
look for them ; and there is aloss of patience in finding 
them out of the way at just the wrong time, so that 
good success is often thus entirely prevented. 

Moreover, many processes of cooking and housekeep- 
ing are performed with much more success, when the 
cook is well provided with suitable utensils ; while the 
use of the same article for various kinds of dishes, or 
for different modes of cooking, often destroys the deli- 
cate flavor of food, and makes all dishes taste very much 
alike. This is the case often, in steam and canal boats, 
where every article on the table seems to have imbi- 
bed one and the same flavor; 

In pointing out the various conveniences to be used 
in housekeeping, reference will be had to those chiefly 
who have means to purchase everything they deem 
useful, and also who can obtain such domestics, that 
proper care will be taken of whatever is provided. 

In the Domestic Economy at p. 319, is a list em- 
bracing a full supply of all those articles which 
some of the best housekeepers in our country deem 
useful and desirable, for the various processes of house- 
keeping, in a family of medium size, and of abundant 
means ; where everything is done for comfort, and no- 
thing for show. 

Kitchen Furniture. 

The kitchen floor should be covered with an oil cloth. 
Carpets, or bits of carpet, are not so good, because of the 
grease and filth that must accumulate in them, and the 
labor of sweeping, shaking, and cleansing them. No- 
thing is cleansed so easily as an oil cloth, and it is much 
better than a painted floor, because it can be removed to 
be painted. 

1 22 



254 



UTENSILS AND CONVENIENCES 



If the cook is troubled with cold feet in winter, small 
bits of carpeting can be laid where she sits and stands 
the most. Otherwise they had better be kept out of the 
kitchen. 

Directions for preparing a kitchen oil cloth will be 
found page 317 of the Domestic Economy. 

There should always be a clock in the kitchen, as in- 
dispensable to success in cooking, and regularity of 
meals. 

Two tables, a large one for cooking, and a small one 
for meals, should be provided. 

Besides this, a settee ironing-table is a very great com- 
fort and convenience, which is represented at Fig. 9, and 
is a better pattern than the one described in the Domes- 
tic Economy. 

Fig. 9. 




The back is made to turn on pivots at CC, and rests 
when turned on the sides. At AA, are projections, with a 
hole that meets the holes in the sides at BB, and then 
the peg at E is put in to hold it firmly. The box, or 
seat, is divided into two parts, with lids at DD, and in these 
boxes are kept, on one side the ironing sheet, wipers and 
holders, and on the other side, the irons, rings, &c, used 
in ironing. When the back is not used for ironing, it is 
put down, and the article is a good settee, and if provi- 
ded with cushions, is as comfortable as most parlor sofas. 
It can be put on castors, and have handles at the sides, 
and then it can be moved up to the fire winter evenings 
for use : the back serving both to reflect the warmth of 
the fire^ and to keep off draughts of air. 



FOR HOUSEKEEPING, 



255 



The following are the dimensions. Length, six feet. 
Width of seat, twenty inches. Height of seat, four- 
teen inches. Height of back, from the bottom, four 
feet. This makes the width of the table when it is 
turned down. Height of the ends where the table rests 
when turned over, two feet six inches. 

In some families, it is sometimes necessary to have a 
domestic sleep in the kitchen. In this case, a bunk set- 
tee, like the one which is represented as open at Fig. 10, 
is very convenient. 

Fig. 10. 




The following are the dimensions. Six feet long. 
Seat two feet wide, and sixteen inches high. The 
parts c c pass within the ends d d. The seat a, when 
it is shut up, rests on the ledge that runs along the back 
at b. The bed and bed-clothing are at the bottom of 
the box, and are shut up in it by day. 

At Fig. 11 is represented a kitchen table, with shelves 
and drawers fastened over it, which, if made and fur- 
nished in the manner described, every housekeeper 
would find an invaluable aid to system, and it would 
save, many steps, and much inconvenience. The shelves 
are to be nailed or screwed on the wall at a convenient 
height over the table. 



256 



UTENSILS AND CONVENIENCES 

Fig. 11 




F 



Rgxs. 




The following are the dimensions of the two articks. 

7^/e. — Six feet long. Three feet two inches broad. 
Thirty inches hisrh* The top to project only two inch- 
es over the frame. The box divided by three drawers. 
Two of the drawers divided by partitions into three 
equal parts, as seen by the dotted lines in the drawing. 

The shelves over the table are three feet in height, 
three feet six inches wide, and a foot deep. The draw- 
ers are four inches deep, and the part above the drawers 
is divided by the shelves into three equal portions. It 
is better to have two doors in front of the shelves to shut 
the dust out. Some would prefer a curtain to slide on 



FOR HOUSEKEEPING. 257 

an iron wire. At A is hung the salt box. made with a 
lid. and at B is the coffee mill, and the other side the 
soap dish is at C. 

To furnish this complete, there should be tin boxes 
made with tight lapping covers, like that at Fig. 12, 
and of three sizes. The largest should be eight inches 
in height, and three and a half in diameter. The next 
size should be six inches high and three inches in diam- 
eter. The next should be four inches high and two 
inches in diameter. These can all be made at a tinner's 
for a small sum. In the largest size put two kinds of 
sugar, and the starch. In the medium size keep tea and 
coffee, table salt and ginger. In the smallest size keep 
cream tartan indigo, mustard, sweet herbs, and spi : 
In junk bottles 5 keep a supply of vinegar, molasses, and 
catsup. In a wide-mouth glass jar. with tight glass 
stopper, keep soda, or saleratus. Write labels and paste 
on to each, and arrange them on these shelves in one 
division. On the shelves of the other division, put the 
following articles : — those that can be suspended, hang 
on nails at the side, over the shelves. A dredging box. 
kitchen pepper box. two-sized graters, two small sieves. 
a bottle brush, a vial tunnel, a larger tunnel, a quart, 
pint, and gill measure, a gravy strainer, a corkscrew, 
half a dozen bowk, as many cups, saucers, and two 
small pitchers. On the top of the shelves put the spice 
mill, and the balance and weights. Fig. 16 shows the 
best kind. In one of the drawers of the shelves, put 
needles, thread, twine, wax. and bite of cotton and linen. 
In the other drawer put the Receipt Book, bits of paper 
and pencil for writing notes and memoranda, an account 
book, and a pen and ink. 

In the table drawer which is not subdivided, put these 
articles : — Rolling-pin. griddle spad, iron meat fork, cof- 
fee stick, mush stick, gridiron scraper, skewers, saw knife, 
chopping knife, egg and cake beaters, apple corer. pota- 
to beetle, meat hammer, butter spad. whetstone. 

In the middle drawer, put. in the front part, the kitch- 
en knives and forks, and carver, the iron spoons, and 
other spoons used in the kitchen. In the centre part of 

22* 



258 



UTENSILS AND CONVENIENCES 



this drawer put the kitchen table-cloths, and in the back 
part, the bags for all kinds of family uses, the pudding 
cloths, jelly strainer, and starch strainers. 

In the other drawer, keep in one division, the clean 
dish cloths and towels ; in another, the roller and tum- 
bler towels, and in another the clean lamp towels, and 
a good supply of holders and dust cloths. Let the cleav- 
er and board be kept on the top of the shelves. 

By this arrangement the cook will find every article 
she has occasion to use close at hand, and when she 
washes dishes, her towels and soap, and the place where 
to lay up all utensils as she washes them, are in imme- 
diate reach. No one knows, without trial, how many 
steps are saved, and how much confusion and waste 
avoided, by such an arrangement. And the expense 
for securing it is a trifle, far less than is often spent for 
some showy but useless article for the parlor. 

Another arrangement is a great aid to system and 
order. Have a closet made as represented at Fig. 13. 

Fig. 13. 




In these partitions place these articles, the largest in the 
largest part, and hanging all that can be suspended, on 
pegs. A large and small clothes frame. A skirt board. 



FOR HOUSEKEEPING. 



259 



A bosom board. A press board. A yard stick. Three 
or four brooms. A floor brush for sweeping oil cloths and 
painted floors. A cobweb brush. A long brush to wash 
windows outside. A carpet stretcher. A whitewash 
brush. A long-handle upright dust pan, and a common 
dust pan. A rag bag. Scrubbing brushes. 

In the part with shelves, place, in the upper partitions, 
in one, the shoes, brushes, and blacking. In another, 
articles for cleaning brass and silver. In another, spon- 
ges, rags, and stain mixtures. In the next division, be- 
low, put the lamps and candlesticks, and the waiter 
containing all the articles used in cleaning lamps. 

At the bottom of this closet, keep a box containing the 
following articles : — A hammer, a small saw, three sizes 
of gimlets, papers of tacks, nails, screws, two chisels, a 
bedscrew, a carpet claw. 

In another box, keep old newspaper, wrapping paper, 
and a large ball of twine. 

Have a clothes broom and clothes brush hung here, 
and keep the table-rug here. 

All other articles in common use are to be kept in the 
pantry, or china closet, or in the pot closet. 

By thus arranging articles together in one place, and 
with so complete an assortment, much time and many 
steps are saved, while they are preserved in good order. 
A housekeeper who chooses to do without some of these 
conveniences, and spend the money saved in parlor 
adornments, has a right to do so, and others have a right 
to think she in this shows herself deficient in good sense. 

The accompanying drawings are designed to show 
some of the most convenient kitchen and other utensils. 

Fig. 14. 




260 



UTENSILS AND CONVENIENCES 



Fig. 14 represents a Tin Baker , or Reflector. The 
iron hooks running out in front, fit it to use with grates. 
It can be made without them, or made so that they can 
be drawn out and put in. This bakes bread, cakes, 
apples, &c, as well as an oven. 



Fig. 15. 




Fig. 15, called a Footman, is made of brass, or sheet 
iron, and is used with a grate, to heat irons, and for 
other purposes. 

Fig. 16. 




Fig. 16 is the best kind of Balances to use in weigh- 
ing cake, and for other purposes. 

Fig. 17. 



1 




FOR HOUSEKEEPING. 



261 



Fig. 17 is a tall-handle Dust Pan. The pan is half 
a yard in length, ten inches in width, and the handle 
two feet high, and set up perpendicularly. It is a very 
economical arrangement to save carpets and labor, as it 
is set down in spots, and the common broom used to 
throw the dust and rubbing from the carpet on to it, in- 
stead of brushing them all across the carpet. 

Fig. 18. 




Fig. 18 is a Saw Knife, being a saw on one side, 
and a knife on the other. It is very useful in preparing 
meats. 

Fig. 19. 




Fig. 19 is a Lemon Squeezer. At A is a concave 
place with holes bored through. At B is a convex pro- 
jection to fit into the concave portion, and here the half 
lemon is put to be squeezed. 



Fig. 21, 



Fig. 20. 



Fig. 20, a Case for lamplighters. It is made of tin, 
like a tumbler, with a lid fastened at the top by a hinge. 
It stands in the parlor, to receive the remnants of ex- 
tinguished lamplighters and matches, to prevent smoke 



262 



UTENSILS AND CONVENIENCES 



and rubbish, and is a great convenience. It can be 
made for a trifle at a tinner's. 

Fig. 21 is a tin Match Safe, which should be hung 
in the kitchen, and the matches be kept in it. It is 
not only convenient, but important for safety. 

Fig. 22. 



Fig. 22 is a Meat Mallet, or beef steak hammer. 
It is a block of wood six inches square, cut in checks, 
so as to make sharp points on the face, and is used to 
make tough steaks more tender. 



Fig. 23. 




Fig. 23 is an Egg Beater. It is made of iron wire, 
fastened to a tin handle. It is fine for beating eggs and 
cake, and saves labor. The tin should be six inches 
long and an inch wide. 



Fig. 24. 



FOR HOUSEKEEPING. 



263 



Fig. 24 is a small brush, useful to dust ledges in par- 
lors, and the frames of windows. 



Fig. 25. 



Fig. 25 is an Apple Cover. It is a scroll of tin sol- 
dered together, about seven inches long, an inch in di- 
ameter at the largest end, and tapering to half an inch 
at the smaller end, where it is cut off obliquely. It costs 
but a dime, and every housekeeper can have one made 
at a tinner's, and needs one. 

Fig. 26. 




Fig. 26 is a Gridiron Scraper. It is fitted to the 
bars of gridirons that have scooped bars. It has a con- 
vex scraper on one end of the transverse piece of iron, 
and a concave one at the other, so as to fit both sides of 
the gridiron bars. 



Fiff. 27. 




Fig. 27 show T s the best shape for a Rolling Pin. 



264 



UTENSILS AND CONVENIENCES 



Fig. 28. 




Fig. 28 shows a Fish Kettle, with the strainer drawn 
out above it. It should be large enough to use some- 
times for boiling a ham. This and the sauce pans fol- 
lowing can be used on a cooking stove, or be set on a 
trivet when an open fire is used. 

Fig. 29. 




Fig. 29 is a Preserving Kettle with a cover. 

Fig. 30. 




Fig. 30 is another Preserving Kettle, without a cov- 
er. The advantage of these is, that they are shallow, 
so that the fruit will not need to be piled. The cover 



FOR HOUSEKEEPING. 



265 



preserves the flavor more perfectly. The best are of 
copper or bell metal. Porcelain ones are apt to crack. 



Fig. 31. 




Fig. 31 is a Cast Iron Sauce-pan, lined with tin. 

Fig. 32. 




Fig. 32 is a Tin Sauce-pan. 

Fig. 33. 




Fig. 33 is a Copper Sauce-pan. 

Every housekeeper needs at least four different sizes 
of sauce-pans. The copper ones are the best, and most 
durable. The iron lined with tin the next best. The 
tin are the poorest. 



266 



UTENSILS AND CONVENIENCES 



Fig. 34. 




Fig. 34 is a Trivet, and is very useful in heating 
articles over coals to prevent burning. Three or four 
of different sizes are needed with an open fire. Food 
cooked for the sick demands them. 







Fig. 35 is a Tin Bonnet, and is very useful to keep 
articles warm, to roast apples, to warm plates, &c. 
Two or three will be kept in constant use when it is 
found how useful they are. 



Fig. 36. 



Fig. 36 is a brush to clean bottles, made of bristles 
twisted into wire. 



Fig. 37. 



-421/ 




FOR HOUSEKEEPING. 



267 



Fig. 37 is a Tin Safe, It is to be made five feet 
high, five feet wide, a division in the middle, and three 
shelves each side. Two doors in front, with a lock and 
key, and all the panels of perforated tin. It is very use- 
ful to preserve food in hot weather, and to protect it also 
from mice. 

Refrigerators are very excellent to keep meat, but- 
ter, milk, and cream, during hot weather. They are 
made in a superior manner, and kept for sale, but the 
following is a mode of securing a cheap one. 

Take a barrel and bore holes in the bottom. Lay 
some small sticks crossing, and set a half barrel within, 
with holes bored in the bottom. Nail list along the 
edge of each, and make a cover to lay on each, so that 
the cover resting on the list will make it very close. 
Then put ice into the inner one, and the water will fil- 
ter through the holes in the bottom, and while the ice is 
preserved, it will make the inner half barrel a perfect re- 
frigerator. Those who buy ice every day will find this 
a great convenience if they have no other refrigerator. 

Fig. 38. 




Fig. 38 represents an excellent pattern for a Sofa 
Bedstead, such as a common carpenter can make. Its 
dimensions are as follows : — Length, six feet. Width, 
two feet two inches. Height of the seat from the floor, 
fifteen inches. Height of the back and sides from the 
seat, eighteen inches. The seat is a frame with slats to 
be laid across lengthwise, as this gives more ease than 
crosswise slats. The back is a frame, with slats cross- 
wise, with two frame legs, as at A and 13. swinging on 



268 ARTICLES AND CONVENIENCES 

hinges, and when pulled out they serve to support the 
back. The back is hooked up to the sides, and when 
laid down rests on the frame legs A B. These legs turn 
with pintles, or wood hinges. The ends of the sofa 
have grooved slides for the head and foot boards to slide 
in, as at C C, and have brown linen nailed on both in- 
side and outside, on which to fasten the sofa cover. Two 
thick cushions of hair, or of moss and cotton, are made, 
one to serve for the seat, one to set up against the back. 
These serve for the bed when the back is laid down. A 
frill is fastened around the frame of the seat, and the 
box D, underneath, is to hold the bedclothes, and runs 
on castors, as also does the sofa. 

Fig. 39. 




Fig. 39 is a very convenient and cheap article for a 
light seat to use in a chamber, or in gardening. It is 
made just like a cross bedstead or cot, with a bit of stair 
carpeting used as the seat. Handles fastened to it make 
it more convenient to carry about, as it can be doubled 
up, and taken in one hand. These are the dimensions : 
Sticks for the seat, one foot long. Sticks for the legs,. one 
foot six inches long. 

Fig. 40. 




Fig. 40 is an article for a bedchamber, and remark- 
ably convenient for dressing the feet. In one drawer 
are kept stockings of all sorts, and in the other shoes ; 
it has a cushion and handles, and is set on castors. It 
is to stand by the bedside, and a person can change the 
dress of the feet with the greatest comfort and conve- 
nience. These are the dimensions : — Twenty inches 
square and twelve inches high from castors to cushion. 



FOR HOUSEKEEPING. 269 

Housekeepers are much troubled to keep dippers in 
order. The only sure mode is to have two made of 
copper ', with iron handles fastened on very tight, one to 
hold a pint, and another two or three quarts. These 
will never rust or leak, and may be kept for years. Let 
them be hung by the fire. Keep trivets on which to 
set kettles over coals, so as not to burn the articles while 
cooking. 

The most successful mode of securing the proper care 
of utensils, is to make a definite agreement with the 
cook, on hiring her, that after dinner, she shall examine 
kitchen, cellar, and pantry, and wash every article that 
needs cleansing; and that once a month she shall scour 
all that need scouring. Then, at least once a week, 
and once a month, the housekeeper should examine her- 
self whether this agreement is fulfilled. 



CHAPTER XXX. 



SUGGESTIONS IN REGARD TO HIRED SERVICE. 

There is no subject on which young housekeepers 
need wisdom and instruction more, than in regard to the 
management of domestics, and therefore some far- 
ther suggestions will be offered, in addition to those pre- 
sented in the Domestic Economy. 

Success in the management of domestics very much 
depends upon the manners of a housekeeper towards 
them. And here, two extremes are to be avoided. One 
is a severe and imperious mode of giving orders and find- 
ing fault, which is inconsistent both with lady-like good 
breeding, and with a truly amiable character. Few do- 
mestics, especially American domestics, will long submit 
to it, and many a good one has been lost, simply by the 
influence of this unfortunate manner. 

The other extreme is apt to result from the great dif- 



TO 



SUGGESTIONS IN REGARD 



ficulty of retaining good domestics. In cases where this 
is experienced, there is a liability of becoming so fearful 
of displeasing one who is found to be good, that, imper- 
ceptibly, the relation is changed, and the domestic be- 
comes the mistress. A housekeeper thus described this 
change in one whom she hired : a The first year she 
was an excellent servant ; the second year, she was a 
kind mistress ; the third year, she was an intolerable ty- 
rant !" 

There is no domestic so good that she will not be in- 
jured by perceiving that, through dependance upon her, 
and a fear of losing her services, the mistress of the fam- 
ily gives up her proper authority and control. 

The happy medium is secured, by a course of real 
kindness in manner and treatment, attended with the 
manifestation of a calm determination, that the plans 
and will of the housekeeper, and not of the domestic, 
shall control the family arrangements. 

When a good domestic first begins to insist that her 
views and notions shall be regarded, rather than those 
of the housekeeper, a kind but firm stand must be taken. 
A frank conversation should be sought, at a time when 
nothing has occurred to ruffle the temper on either side. 
Then the housekeeper can inquire what would be the 
view taken of this matter in case the domestic herself 
should become a housekeeper, and hire a person to help 
her ; and when the matter is set before her mind in this 
light, let the " golden rule" be applied, and ask her 
whether she is not disposed to render to her present em- 
ployer what she herself would ask from a domestic in 
similar circumstances. 

Much trouble of this kind is saved by hiring persons 
on trial, in order to ascertain whether they are willing 
and able to do the work of the family in the manner 
which the housekeeper wishes ; and in this case, such 
written cards as have been exhibited in previous pages 
can be read, or some member of the family can go around 
for a day or two, and show how everything is to be done. 

There is no department of domestic life where a wo- 
man's temper and patience are so sorely tried, as in the 






TO HIRED SERVICE. 271 

incompetence and constant changes of domestics. And 
therefore, there is no place where a reasonable and Chris- 
tian woman will be more watchful, careful, and conscien- 
tious. 

The cultivation of patience will be much promoted, 
by keeping in mind these considerations in reference to 
the incompetence and other failings of those who are 
hired. 

In the first place, consider that the great object of life 
to us is not enjoyment, but the formation of a right 
character ; that such a character cannot be formed, ex- 
cept by discipline, and that the trials and difficulties of 
domestic life, if met in a proper spirit and manner, will, 
in the end, prove blessings rather than evils, by secu- 
ring a measure of elevation, dignity, patience, self-control, 
and benevolence, that could be gained by no other 
methods. The comfort gained by these virtues, and the 
rewards they bring, both in this and in a future life, are 
a thousand-fold richer than the easy, indolent life of in- 
dulgence, which we should choose for ourselves. 

In the next place, instead of allowing the mind to 
dwell on the faults of those who minister to our com- 
fort and convenience, cultivate a habit of making every 
possible benevolent allowance and palliation. Say to 
yourself — " Poor girl ! she has never been instructed, 
either by parents or employers. Nobody has felt any in- 
terest in the formation of her habits, or kindly sought to 
rectify her faults. Why should I expect her to do those 
things well which no one has taken any care to teach 
her ? She has no parent or friend now to aid her but 
myself. Let me bear her faults patiently, and kindly 
try to cure them." 

If a woman will cultivate the spirit expressed in such 
language, if she will benevolently seek the best good of 
those she employs, if she will interest herself in giving 
them instruction, if they need it, and good books to read 
if they are already qualified to understand them, if she 
will manifest a desire to have them made comfortable in 
the kitchen, and in their chambers, she certainly will 
receive her reward, and that in manv wavs. She will 



272 SUGGESTIONS IN REGARD 

be improving her own character, she will set a good ex- 
ample to her family, and in the end, she will do some- 
thing, and in some cases much, to improve the charac- 
ter and services of those whom she hires. And the good 
done in this way goes down from generation to genera- 
tion, and goes also into the eternal world, to be known 
and rejoiced in, when every earthly good has come to 
an end. 

It is sometimes the case, that the constant change of 
domestics, and the liability thus to have dishonest ones, 
makes it needful to keep stores under lock and key. 
This measure is often very offensive to those who are 
hired, as it is regarded by them as an evidence both of 
closeness and of suspicion of their honesty. 

In such cases, it is a good plan, when first making an 
agreement with a domestic, to state the case in this way. 
That you have had dishonest persons in the family, and 
that when theft is committed, it is always a cause of dis- 
quiet to honest persons, because it exposes them to sus- 
picion. You can then state your reasons as two-fold : 
one to protect yourself from pilfering when you take en- 
tire strangers, and the other is to protect honest persons 
from being suspected. When the matter is thus pre- 
sented, at first hiring a person, no offence will be taken 
afterwards. 

In some portions of our country, the great influx of 
foreigners of another language and another faith, and 
the ready entrance they find as domestics into American 
families, impose peculiar trials and peculiar duties on 
American housekeepers. In reference to such, it is no 
less our interest than our duty to cultivate a spirit of 
kindness, patience, and sympathy. 

Especially should this be manifested in reference to 
their religion. However wrong, or however pernicious 
we may regard their system of faith, we should remem- 
ber, that they have been trained to believe that it is 
what God commands them to obey, and so long as they 
do believe this, we should respect them for their conscien- 
tious scruples, and not try to tempt them to do w r hat 
they suppose to be wrong. If we lead an ignorant and 



TO HIRED SERVICE. 273 

feeble mind to do what it believes to be wrong, in regard 
to the most sacred of all duties, those owed to God, how 
can we expect them to be faithful to us ? 

The only lawful way to benefit those whom we re- 
gard as in an error, is, not to tempt them to do what 
they believe to be wrong, but to give them the light of 
knowledge , so that they may be qualified to judge for 
themselves. And the way to make them willing to re- 
ceive this light, is to be kind to them. We should take 
care that their feelings and prejudices should in no way 
be abused, and that they be treated as we should wish 
to be, if thrown as strangers into a strange land, among 
a people of different customs and faith, and away from 
parents, home, and friends. 

Remember that our Master, who is in heaven, espe- 
cially claims to be the God of the widow, the fatherless, 
and the stranger, and has commanded, "If a stranger 
sojourn with you in your land, ye shall not vex him, but 
the stranger that dwelleth among you shall be unto you 
as one born among you, and thou shalt love him as thy- 
self." 

There is one rule, which every housekeeper will find 
of incalculable value, not only in the case of domestics, 
but in the management of children, and that is, never to 
find fault at the time that a wrong thing is done. 
Wait until you are unexcited yourself, and until the vexa- 
tion of the offender is also past, and then, when there is 
danger of a similar offence, foreivarn, and point out the 
evils already done for want of proper care in this respect. 



CHAPTER XXXI. 

ON THE STYLE OF LIVING AND EXPENSES. 

This work is designed primarily for young and in- 
experienced housekeepers, and the following suggestions 



274 THE STYLE OF LIVING 

are presented as the advice of many judicious and expe- 
rienced matrons in our country, to their young country- 
women, who are to follow them in the trying- duties 
of housekeeping. 

Nothing in this country is a greater source of suffer- 
ing to housekeepers, than bad taste in their style of liv- 
ing and expenditure. Good taste is that nice percep- 
tion of fitness and propriety which leads a person to say 
and do whatever is suitable and appropriate in all pos- 
sible circumstances. Such good taste is ordinarily the 
result of good feelings and well-cultivated mind, and an 
acquaintance with the world. Yet this correct taste is 
sometimes found in minds that have enjoyed but few 
advantages, but by nature are endowed with refined 
feelings and good common sense. 

Where this good taste exists, it leads a woman to wish 
to have her house, furniture, and style of living, in all its 
parts, exactly conformed to her means, and her situa- 
tion. If she is not rich, she will not wish to have a 
house, or furniture, or dress like those who are rich, and 
will find a pride and pleasure in making a small house, 
plain furniture, simple dress, and an economical table, 
so neat, and orderly, and comfortable, and tasteful, as to 
ensure comfort and satisfaction to all around her. If 
she cannot command good domestics, nor live comforta- 
bly in a house, and with furniture which requires them, 
she will aim to alter the style of her establishment, and 
adopt one which can be thoroughly and successfully 
carried out by such domestics as she can obtain. 

Where good domestics are scarce, it is a very great 
mistake to attempt to live in a large house. The la- 
bor of house cleaning, and window cleaning, the sweep- 
ing, the care of furniture, and many other items of la- 
bor, are much increased by enlarging the size of the 
house. In the country, where good help is scarce, a 
house on the plan of one of the cottages drawn in the 
Domestic Economy, with bed presses instead of cham- 
bers, will be found to be a great saving of labor, and the 
expense that might be incurred in building, furnishing, 
and taking care of chambers, can be laid out in making 



AND EXPENSES. 275 

conveniences for carrying water, and furnishing the 
kitchen property. The drawings for this purpose in the 
Domestic Economy will be found useful in this respect. 

In cities, nothing is more pernicious to a housekeeper's 
health, than going up and down stairs, and a woman 
who has good taste and good sense, will not, for the sake 
of show, keep tioo parlors on the ground floor and her 
nursery above and kitchen below. One of these parlors 
will be taken for her nursery and bedroom, even should 
all her acquaintance wonder how it can be, that a 
wife and mother should think her health and duties of 
more importance than two dark parlors shut up for 
company. 

When a woman has good sense and good taste, these 
are some of the things she will not do. 

She will not be so anxious to obtain admission into 
any circle as to seek it by a conformity to its fashions, 
which will involve her in labor, or expenses that lessen 
domestic comfort, or are inappropriate to her income. 

She will not be particularly anxious to know what the 
fashion is, in dress and furniture, nor give up any im- 
portant duty or pursuit to conform to it. Nor will she 
be disturbed if found deficient in these particulars, nor 
disturb others by making apologies, or giving reasons. 

She will not, while all that is in sight to visiters, or 
to out-door observers, is in complete order, and in ex- 
pensive style, have her underclothing, her bedroom, hef 
kitchen, and her nursery ill furnished, and all in disor- 
der. She will not attempt to show that she is genteel, 
and belongs to the aristocracy, by a display of profusion, 
by talking as if she w T as indifferent to the cost of things, 
or by seeming ashamed to economize. These things 
are marks of a vulgar, unrefined person, that fancies 
that it is money, and not character, that makes the 
lady. And by persons of education and refinement, 
such things are always regarded as indicating a vulgar, 
uncultivated mind. 

Let a young housekeeper, then, adopt these maxims 
as her guide in regulating the style of her dress, furni- 
ture, table, and the size of her house. 



276 WORDS OF COMFORT FOR 

Do not begin housekeeping in the style in which you 
should end it, but begin on a plain and small scale, and 
increase your expenditures as your experience and means 
are increased. 

Be determined to live within your income, and in 
such a style that you can secure time to improve your 
own mind, and impart some of your own advantages to 
others. 

Try to secure symmetry in your dress, furniture, style 
of living, and charities. That is, do not be profuse in 
one direction, and close and pinching in another. 

Cultivate a taste for intellectual pleasures, home 
pleasures, and the pleasures of benevolence. 

Have some regular "plan for the employment of your 
time, and in this plan have chief reference to making 
home pleasant to your husband and children. It will 
save them from a thousand snares, and you from many 
sorrows. 



CHAPTER XXXII. 

WORDS OF COMFORT FOR A DISCOURAGED HOUSEKEEPER. 

There is no doubt of the fact, that American house- 
keepers have far greater trials and difficulties to meet 
than those of any other nation. And it is probable that 
many of those who may read over the methods of thrift 
and economy adopted by some of the best housekeepers 
in our land, and detailed in this work, will with a 
sigh exclaim, that it is impossible for them even to at- 
tempt any such plans. 

Others may be stimulated by the advice and exam 
pies presented, and may start off with much hope and 
courage, to carry out a plan of great excellence and ap- 
propriateness, and after trying a while, will become dis- 



A DISCOURAGED HOUSEKEEPER. 277 

couraged by the thousand obstacles in their way, and 
give up in despair. 

A still greater number will like their own way best, 
and think it is folly to attempt to change. 

For those who wish they could become systematic, neat, 
and thorough housekeepers, and would like to follow out 
successfully the suggestions found in this work, and for 
those who have tried, or will try, and find themselves 
baffled and discouraged, these words of comfort are 
fered. 

Perhaps you find yourself encompassed by such sort 
of trials as these. Your house is inconvenient, or desti- 
tute of those facilities for doing work well which you 
need, and you cannot command the means to supply 
these deficiencies. Your domestics are so imperfectly 
qualified that they never can do anything just right, 
unless you stand by and attend to everything yourself, 
and you cannot be present in parlor, nursery, and kitch- 
en all at once. Perhaps you are frequently left without 
any cook, or without a chambermaid, and sometimes 
without any hands but your own to do the work, and 
there is constant jostling and change from this cause. 
And perhaps you cannot get supplies, either from gar- 
den or market, such as you need, and all your calcula- 
tions fail in that direction. 

And perhaps your children are sickly, and rob you 
of rest by night, or your health is so poor that you feel 
no energy, or spirits to make exertions. And perhaps 
you never have had any training in domestic affairs, and 
cannot understand how to work yourself, nor how to di- 
rect others. And when you go for aid to experienced 
housekeepers, or cookery books, you are met by such 
sort of directions as these : " Take a pinch of this, and a 
little of that, and considerable of the other, and cook 
them till they are done about right" And when you can- 
not succeed in following such indefinite instructions, you 
find your neighbors and husband wondering how it is, 
that when you have one, two, or three domestics, there 
should be so much difficulty about housekeeping, and 
such constant trouble, and miscalculation, and mistake. 

24 



278 WORDS OF COMFORT FOR 

And then, perhaps, you lose your patience and your tem- 
per, and blame others, and others blame you, and so 
everything seems to be in a snarl. 

Now the first thing to be said for your comfort is, that 
you really have great trials to meet ; trials that entitle 
you to pity and sympathy, while it is the fault of others 
more than your own, that you are in this very painful 
and difficult situation. You have been as cruelly treat- 
ed as the Israelites were by Pharaoh, when he demand- 
ed bricks without furnishing the means to make them. 

You are like a young, inexperienced lad, who is re- 
quired to superintend all the complicated machinery of 
a manufactory, which he never was trained to under- 
stand, and on penalty of losing reputation, health, and 
all he values most. 

Neither your parents, teachers, or husband have train- 
ed you for the place you fill, nor furnished you with the 
knowledge or assistance needed to enable you to meet 
all the complicated and untried duties of your lot. A 
young woman who has never had the care of a child, 
never done housework, never learned the numberless 
processes that are indispensable to keep domestic affairs 
in regular order, never done anything but attend to books, 
drawing, and music, at school, and visiting and com- 
pany after she left school, such an one is as unprepared 
to take charge of a nursery, kitchen, and family estab- 
lishment, as she is to take charge of a man-of-war. 
And the chief blame rests with those who placed her so 
unprepared in such trying' circumstances. Therefore, 
you have a right to feel that a large part of these evils 
are more your misfortune than your fault, and -that they 
entitle you to sympathy rather than blame. 

The next word of comfort is, the assurance that you 
can do every one of your duties, and do them well, and 
the following is the method by which you can do it. 
In the first place, make up your mind that it never is 
your duty to do anything more than you can, or in any 
better manner than the best you cam. And whenever 
you have done the best you can, you have done well. 



A DISCOURAGED HOUSEKEEPER. 279 

and it is all that man should require, and certainly all 
that your Heavenly Father does require. 

The next thing is, for you to make out an inventory 
of all the things that need to be done, in your whole es- 
tablishment. Then calculate what things you find you 
cannot do, and strike them off the list, as what are not 
among your duties. Of those that remain, select a cer- 
tain number that you think you can do exactly as they 
need to be done, and among these be sure that you put 
the making of good bread. This every housekeeper 
can do, if she will only determine to do it. 

Make a selection of certain things that you will per~ 
severe in having done as well as they can be done,a,nd 
let these be only so many as you feel sure you can suc- 
ceed in attempting. Then make up your mind that all 
the rest must go along as they do, until you get more 
time, strength, and experience, to increase the list of 
things that you determine shall always be well done. 

By this course, you will have the comfort of feeln 
that in some respects you are as good a housekeeper a^ 
you can be, w T hile there will be a cheering progress in 
gaining on all that portion of your affairs, that are left 
at loose ends. You will be able to measure a gradual 
advance, and be encouraged by success. Many house- 
keepers fail entirely, by expecting to do everything ivell 
at first, when neither their knowledge or strength 
adequate, and so they fail everywhere, and finally give «. 
in despair. 

Are you not only a housekeeper, but a mother ? Oh, 
sacred and beautiful name ! how many cares and res- 
ponsibilities are associated w r ith it ! And how many el- 
evating and sublime anticipations and hopes are given 
to inspire, and to cheer ! You are training young minds 
w r hose plastic texture will receive and retain every im- 
pression you make, who will imitate your feelings, tastes, 
habits, and opinions, and w 7 ho will transmit what they 
receive from you to their children, to pass again to the 
next generation, and then to the next, until a tchole na- 
tion will have received its character and destiny from 
your hands ! No imperial queen ever stood in a more 



• 



280 FRIENDLY COUNSELS 

sublime and responsible position than you now occupy, 
in the eye of Him who reads the end from the begin- 
ning, and who is appointing all the trials and discipline 
of your lot, not for purposes which are visible to your 
limited ken, but in view of all the consequences that are 
to result from the character which you form, and are to 
transmit to your posterity ! 

Remember, then, that you have a Father in heaven, 
who sympathizes in all your cares, pities your griefs, 
makes allowances for your defects, and is endeavoring 
by trials, as well as by blessings, to fit you for the right 
fulfilment of your high and holy calling. 



CHAPTER XXXIII. 

FRIENDLY COUNSELS FOR DOMESTICS. 

My friends, you fill a very important and respectable 
station. The duties committed to you by God are very 
apt to be considered of small account, but they are in- 
deed most solemn and important. 

On your faithfulness and kindness depends the com- 
fort of a whole family, and on you often depends the 
character and happiness of a whole flock of children. 
If you do your part faithfully in assisting the mother to 
carry forward her plans, she will be able to train them 
aright. If you fail to perform your part, she will be per- 
plexed, discouraged, and disabled, and everything will 
go wrong. 

Every person finds troubles and trials in their lot, and 
so you must find them in yours. But trials are sent by 
God, not for evil, but for good, so that we, by patiently 
bearing them, and by striving to improve under them, 
may grow wiser and better, and thus more happy than 
we could be without them. 

Whenever, therefore, anything vexes, or troubles you, 



FOR DOMESTICS. 281 

comfort yourselves by thinking that it is designed for 
your good, and reap at least one benefit, by bearing it 
with patience and cheerfulness. 

In all your dealings with those who employ you, try 
to follow " the golden rule" and do by them as you 
will wish to have others do by you, when you are the 
mistress of a family, and hire others to help you. 

Do you find that many things are uncomfortable and 
xmpleasant in your present lot? Remember that you 
never can find a place in this world where everything 
will be just as you want it, and that it is a bad thing 
for you, as well as for your employers, to keep roving 
about from one place to another. Stay where you are, 
and try to make those things that trouble you more tol- 
erable, by enduring them with patience. Do not fret 
and be angry at your employers when they oppose your 
wishes, but wait until you feel in better humor, and 
then tell them what troubles you, and what you wish 
they would alter, and in a kind and respectful way, and 
you will be ten times more likely to gain what you de- 
sire. 

Do you think that you are found fault with too much, 
and that your employer is so hard to please that you 
wish to change for another ? Perhaps you do not know 
how often you do things different from what she wishes, 
when she does not complain. Perhaps she tells you 
only just what she thinks she ought to do, for your good. 
Perhaps she does not know that she does find fault a 
great deal, or that her manner is an unpleasant one. 
Perhaps she has a great many cares and troubles that 
you know not of, which try her nerves, and make her 
feel very irritable, and thus speak hastily when she does 
not intend it. 

Be patient with her failings, if you think you see any, 
just as you wish to have her bear with your faults, when 
they trouble her. If you find your patience failing, it 
may be well in some cases, to say to your employer, that 
you should do better, if she would find fault less, and 
praise you more when you do well. But never say any- 

24* 



232 FRIENDLY COUNSELS FOR DOMESTICS. 

thing of this kind when you are angry yourself, or when 
you see that she is displeased. 

Be careful, in ah your dealings with children, always 
to speak the truth, and never let them hear from you 
any filthy or wicked language. Never promise to do a 
thing and then break your word, for this teaches them 
to break promises. Never tell them frightful stories, or 
try to make them mind you by saying what is not true. 
Never help them conceal what they have done that is 
wrong, but try to persuade them to confess their faults. 

Never take the least thing that does not belong to you, 
and never tempt children to give you what does not be- 
long to them. 

Never tell tales out of the family, nor tell to your em- 
ployers the bad things you have seen, or heard in other 
families, for this is mean and ungenerous. 

Do not spend your money for useless and expensive 
things, but learn to be economical and prudent, that you 
may be preparing to be a good housekeeper, wife, and 
mother, if ever you have a family of your own. 

Do not form a habit of roaming about to see company, 
but be industrious in hours not employed for those who 
hire" you, in mending and making your own clothes. 

Take care and keep your person clean, and your hair 
and clothes in order, and have your chamber always 
neat and tidy. 

Do not be rude and boisterous in manners, but always 
speak politely to all, especially to those who em ploy you. 

Do not waste any of the provisions, or property of 
your employers, nor let it spoil by neglect, and never 
lend or give away anything belonging to the family 
without leave. 

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. 

Read your Bible daily, and try to obey its teachings. 

Pray to God to forgive your past sins, and to help you 
keep all his commands, and live every day so that you 
will not be afraid to die. 



MISCELLANEOUS ADVICE, ETC. 233 



CHAPTER XXXIV. 

MISCELLANEOUS ADVICE, AND SUPPLEMENTARY RECEIPTS. 

Weights and Measures. 

It is a good plan to have a particular measure cup 
kept for the purpose, and after once weighing" all those 
receipts that are given by weight, to measure the quan- 
tity by this cup, and then write the measures in your 
receipt book, and keep the cup only for this purpose. 
The following is some guide in judging of the relative 
proportion between measures and weights. 

A quart of flour, or of sifted loaf sugar, or of softened 
butter, each weigh about a pound. The flour, if sifted, 
must be heaped. 

A pint equals eight ounces. 

A half a pint equals four ounces. 

One gill equals two ounces. 

Half a gill equals one ounce. 

A quart of brown sugar, or of Indian meal, equals a 
pound and two ounces of the same. 

One great spoonful of flour, loaf sugar, or of melted 
butter, equals a quarter of an ounce of the same. It 
should be a little heaped. 

Four spoonfuls equal an ounce, or half a gill. 

Eight spoonfuls equal one gill. 

Sixteen spoonfuls equal half a pint. 

Spoons differ so much in size that this is an uncertain 
guide. 

A medium-sized teaspoon holds sixty drops of water. 

Ten eggs usually weigh a pound. 

Four gills make a pint. 

Two pints make a quart. 

Four quarts make a gallon. 

Eight quarts make a peck. 

Four pecks make a bushel. 



284 MISCELLANEOUS ADVICE, AND 

Avoirdupois Weight. 

Sixteen drachms make an ounce. 
Sixteen ounces make a pound. 
Twenty-eight pounds make a quarter. 
Four quarters make a hundred. 
Twenty hundred make a ton. 

Apothecaries' Weight. 

Twenty grains make a scruple. 
Three scruples make a drachm. 
Eight drachms make an ounce. 
Twelve ounces make a pound. 

On Purchasing Wood. 

Wood that is straight and solid makes more in a load, 
and is the most profitable. 

A cord of small crooked sticks does not contain half 
the wood there is in a load of solid logs. 

The best wood for fires is the hickory, hard maple, 
white ash, black birch, yellow birch, beech, yellow oak, 
and locust. The best are placed first. 

The following are inferior in quality. Elm, soft ma- 
ple, white birch, pepperage, and pine. 

The following are not fit to burn, either because they 
snap, or will not burn. Chestnut, butternut, cedar, sas- 
afras, red oak, and buckeye. 

Any person can learn to distinguish each kind by a little 
attention and instruction. 

Wood is bought by measurement. A cord of wood is 
8 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 4 feet high. 

To know the amount of a load, multiply the length 
by the breadth, and the product by the height, and you 
have the number of square feet. If it is 128 feet, it is 
a cord. 

Items of Advice. 

If you keep an account of your stores, and the dates 
when they are bought, you can know exactly how fast 
they are used, and when they are wasted, or stolen. 




SUPPLEMENTARY RECEIPTS. 285 

Stale bread is improved by steaming it half an hour 
or more. 

Grate up dry cheese, and cheese crusts, moisten it with 
wine or brandy, and keep it in a jar for use. It is bet- 
ter than at first. 

Boil old earthen soaked with grease in hot ley, and it 
will cleanse it. 

Wheat should always be washed before grinding. 

When you clean house, begin with the highest rooms 
first, so that clean rooms be not soiled when done. 

Repair house linen, turn sheets, and wash bedclothes 
in summer. 

Clean house in the fall instead of spring, and you get 
rid of all the filth made by flies. But when you burn 
bituminous coal, spring is the proper time for house 
cleaning. 

Keep coarse mats on the kitchen table for keeping it 
clean. 

Use a coarse apron and gloves for cleaning grates. 
Have coal cinders sifted, and save the coarse part to burn 
again. 

Buy your w T ood in xiugust and September, when it 
usually is cheapest and plenty. 

Have the backs of your chimneys kept clean by sweep- 
ing. 

Never try a new dish for company. 

To purify water, put common charcoal pounded in a 
common flower-pot, and fine sand over it, and let the 
water trickle through. Or, take an old sieve, and fill it 
with sand and pounded charcoal, and strain the water, 
and then cool it with ice. 

Keep a receipt book for yourself, and write in it the 
improvements of your own experience. 

Keep bits of potter's clay in the house, to use for a 
paste to extract grease from carpets, floors, and broad- 
cloths. 

Dry bran around grapes and other fruit preserves it. 

All fat should be tried up once a week, for cooking, 
or soap grease. Good fat saves butter. 

When a stove-pipe or other iron is cracked, make a 



286 MISCELLANEOUS ADVICE, AND 

cement with ashes, salt, and water, and it will stop the 
opening. 

Faded colors often are improved by strong salt and 
water. 

Sal volatile, or spirits of hartshorn, will restore colors 
taken out by acids. 

Eggs are preserved longer by packing them close, 
standing on their small ends. Another way is to pack 
them in fine salt, small end down. Another way is to 
pack them, small end down, and then pour on them a 
mixture of four quarts of cold water, four quarts of un- 
slacked lime, two ounces of salt, and two ounces of 
cream-tartar. This will serve for nine dozen fe£s. 
Try all these ways. 

Rancid butter is said, by good judges, to be restored 
thus : — Put fifteen drops of chloride of lime to a pint of 
w T ater, and work the butter in it till every particle has 
come in contact with the water. Then work it over in 
fair cold water. 

Indelible Ink is thus prepared : — Buy three drachm 
of nitrate of silver, and put it in a vial with two spoor 
fuls of water. Let it stand a few days, then color it wit 
a little ink, and add a tablespoonful of brandy. The 
preparation is made of strong pearlash water, stiffened 
with gum-arabic, and colored with red wafers. 

Buy cheap red ivafers, and scatter them about, and 
cockroaches will eat them and be destroyed. The roots 
. of black hellebore scattered in their haunts is an infal- 
lible remedy. 

Cold cream for sore lips, is made by mixing two 
ounces of oil of almonds, one ounce of spermaceti, one 
drachm of white wax, and melting them together, ad- 
ding rose water to perfume them. 

Jelly -bags should be made of flannel, and pudding 
cloths of thick linen, with strings sewed on to them. 

Hose leaves should be gathered and preserved by 
crowding them into a jar with brandy, to use for cooking. 

Potato starch is made by grating peeled potatoes, 
and rubbing them in water. Then pour off the water, 
after stirring it, and dry what sinks to the bottom. 



SUI ELEMENTARY RECEIPTS. " 287 

Orange and lemon peel can be saved thus t — Dry it 
in an oven, pound it, and then bottle it close. 

Orange or lemon water is prepared thus : — Pound 
the fresh skins in a mortar, pour in boiling water, cover 
close, and when cold bottle close. Or use wine or 
brandy. 

Cologne icater is made thus : — Buy at the apotheca- 
ry's one drachm each of oil of lavender, oil of lemon, oil 
of rosemary, and oil of cinnamon. Add two drachms of 
oil of ber^amot. Mix in a vial, and add a pint of alco- 
hol. 

When Pearlash or Saleratus becomes damp, dis- 
solve it in as much water as will just entirely dissolve it, 
and no more. A tablespoonful of this equals a teaspoon- 
ful of the solid. Keep it corked in a junk bottle. 

The following is a very useful receipt for children who 
go to school where blackboards are used. 

To make nice Crayons for Blackboards. 

These directions are given by Prof. Turner, of the 
American Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb, as follows : 

" Take 5 pounds of Paris white, 1 pound of Wheat 
flour, wet with water, and knead it well ; make it so 
stiff that it will not stick to the table, but not so stiff as 
to crumble and fall to pieces when it is rolled under the 
hand. 

" To roll out the crayons to the proper size, two boards 
are needed, one to roll them on ; the other to roll them 
with. The first should be a smooth pine board three 
feet long and nine inches wide. The other should also 
be pine, a foot long and nine inches wide, having nailed 
on the under side near each edge a slip of wood one- 
third of an inch thick, in order to raise it so much above 
the under board as that the crayon, when brought to its 
proper size, may lie between them without being flat- 
tened. 

' " The mass is roiled into a ball, and slices are cut from 
one side of it about one-third of an inch thick : these 
slices are again cut into strips about four inches long and 



288 



CHEAP DISHES. 



one-third of an inch wide, and rolled separately between 
these boards until smooth and round. 

" Near at hand should be another board 3 feet long and 
4 inches wide, across which each crayon, as it is made, 
should be laid, so that the ends may project on each 
side — the crayons should be laid in close contact, and 
straight. When the board is filled, the ends should all 
be trimmed off so as to make the crayons as long as the 
width of the board. It is then laid in the sun, if in hot 
weather, or if in winter, near a stove or fireplace, where 
the crayons may dry gradually, which will require 
twelve hours. When thoroughly dry they are fit for 
use. 

" An experienced hand will make 150 in an hour." 
Young boys can make them and sell to their compan 
ions. 



SOME EXCELLENT CHEAP DISHES. 



Stewed Beef. 

Take a shank or hock of beef, with all the meat 
belonging to it, and put it into a pot full of water early 
in the morning and throw in a tablespoonful of salt. Let 
it simmer very slowly, till the beef is soft, and cleaves 
from the bone, and the water is reduced to about two 
quarts. Then peel some potatoes, and cut them in 
quarters, and throw in w x ith two teaspoonfuls of black 
pepper, two of sweet marjoram, and two of thyme, or 
summer savory. Add some celery flavor or sauce, and 
more salt if it requires it. Stew until the potatoes are 
cooked enough, but not till they are mashed. Then take 
dry bread, and throw in, breaking it into small pieces, 
and when soaked, take up the whole and serve it, and 
everybody will say it is about the best dish they ever 
tasted. 

Those who love onions slice in three or four with the 
potatoes. Rice can be put in instead of bread. 



CHEAP DISHES. 289 

Tomato Beef. 

Stew a shank or hock of beef as above, except you 
put in nine or ten peeled tomatoes instead of potatoes 
and sweet herbs, and also leave out the bread. Some 
would add a little chopped onion. This is excellent 
and a very healthful mode of preparing beef, especially 
if it is tough. 

A good Way to use Cold Rice. 

Heat the rice in milk, add a well-beaten egg or two, 
a little salt, butter, and sugar, let it boil up once, and 
then grate on nutmeg. 

To prepare Good Toast. 

Toast the bread very quick, dip each slice in boiling 
water as soon as you have toasted it, and then lay thin 
bits of butter over. Cover and keep hot as you proceed. 
A tin bonnet is very useful for this. Make milk toast 
in the same way, keeping the milk at nearly boiling 
heat. It is better to spread the butter thin on to the 
toast after it is dipped in hot njilk, than to melt it in it. 

A Good Pudding. 

Line a buttered dish with slices of wheat bread, first 
dipped in milk. Fill the dish with sliced apple, and add 
sugar and spice. Cover with slices of bread soaked in 
milk, cover close with a plate, and bake three hours. 

Loaf Pudding. 

When bread is too stale, put a loaf in a pudding-bag 
and boil it in salted water an hour and a half, and eat 
it with hard pudding sauce. 

A Plain Lemon Pudding. 

Nine spoonfuls of grated apple, one grated lemon, 
(peel and pulp,) half a cup of butter, and three eggs. 
Mix and bake, with or without a crust, about an hour. 
Cream improves it. 

25 



290 CHEAP DISHES. 

An Excellent Indian Pudding without Eggs. 

Take seven heaping spoonfuls of Indian meal, half a 
teaspoonful of salt, two spoonfuls of butter or sweet 
lard, a teacup of molasses, and two teaspoonfuls of gin- 
ger or cinnamon, to the taste. Pour into these a quart 
of milk while boiling hot. Mix well, and put it in a 
buttered dish. Just as you set it in the oven stir in a 
teacup of cold water, which will produce the same effect 
as eggs. Bake three quarters of an hour, in a dish that 
will not spread it out thin. 

Pork and Potato Balls. 

Take one-third chopped salt pork or ham, either raw 
or cooked, and two-thirds of cold cooked potatoes chop- 
ped fine. Mix them up w T ith egg, a little salt and pep- 
per, and then make into balls and fry, or merely cook 
in a skillet. 

Chop cold potatoes fine, and then add some pork fat 
and a little pepper, salt, and water, and warm slowly, 
and it is very good. 

Oyster Pie. 

Make a crust by working flour into mashed boiled 
potatoes with a little salt. Line a deep dish with it, in- 
vert a small teacup in the middle to hold the juice in and 
to hold up the upper crust. Put in the oysters with a 
little pepper and butter, and dredge in some flour. 
Cover with crust, make a large slit on the top, and bake 
an hour. 

Green Corn Patties {like Oysters). 

Twelve ears of sweet corn grated. (Yellow corn will 
do, but not so well.) 

One teasponful of salt and one of pepper. 

One egg beaten into two tablespoonfuls of flour. 

Mix, make into small cakes, and fry brown in butter 
or sweet lard. 



CHEAP DISHES. 291 

Ohio Wedding Cake {Mrs. K.). 

Two pounds of flour. 

One pound of butter. 

One pound of sugar — brown is best. 

Two pounds of currants or one of raisins. 

Ten eggs. 

Two teacups of molasses. 

One gill of wine, and one of brandy. 

One gill of cream, spice and citron to the taste. 

Mix the butter and sugar, add the molasses, then the 
beaten yolks of eggs, then the flour, then the spice, 
wine, and cream, then the whites of the eggs in a stiff 
froth. Put in the fruit in the manner previously di- 
rected, and the citron with it at the same time. This 
is a very fine cake. 

Best Way of making Corn Cakes of all Sorts. 

There is often a sharp and strong taste to corn meal, 
which is remedied by wetting it up the day before it is 
used. The best kind of corn cakes are made by wet- 
ting up a large quantity of Indian meal with milk, 
and letting it stand for several days. Take a quan- 
tity of it, and first make it as thin as you want, either 
for griddle cakes, or drop cakes, or thicker cakes. Add 
salt and a spoonful of melted butter or lard for every 
quart, also sugar to your taste. A little always im- 
proves all corn cakes. Then dissolve soda or salaratus, 
a teaspoonful for each quart. If it is very sour it will 
want more, and tasting is the surest guide. Just as 
you are ready to bake, stir in enough salaratus to 
sweeten it, and stir quickly and only long enough to 
mix it well, and then bake immediately in buttered 
tins. 

Domestics often use too much salaratus, which is bad 
for the stomach, and the housekeeper should ascertain 
by trial the right quantity, and then direct to have it 
carefully measured every time. Corn cakes, made as 
above, just thick enough to form into round cakes half 
an inch thick and baked on a griddle, are excellent. 



292 CHEAP DISHES. 

Molasses Candy. 

As all children are fond of this article, the following 
directions may be acceptable. Boil the molasses (ma- 
ple is the best) till it will, if dropped in cold water, be- 
come crisp. Then, for each quart, put into it an even 
teaspoonful of salaratus dissolved in a little warm wa- 
ter, and stir it till well mixed. This makes it tender 
and crisp. Take a part and cool it in a buttered pan, to 
work white and draw into sticks. Into the remainder 
stir roasted corn, either pounded or whole, or peanuts or 
almonds, or walnuts or hazelnuts. 

Whole Popped corn made into cakes with candy 
is excellent. Roasted corn pounded and mixed with 
half the quantity of maple sugar is good, and some eat 
it thus in milk. 

To make Simple Cerate. 

Melt together equal quantities of white wax and sper- 
maceti, and then add an equal quantity of sweet oil, or 
a little more. 

Never use rancid oil. 

Best Remedy for Bums. 

Pound and sift woody soot, and mix it with sweet lard, 
and apply it, spread on linen rags. It will ease a burn 
quicker than anything. If the skin is off, the great 
thing is to keep it covered close from the air. If the 
burns are large and bad, give salts or cream tartar as a 
cathartic. 

Ginger Tea. 

Pour half a pint of boiling water on to a teaspoonful 
of ginger ; add sugar and milk to the taste. 

Indian Bannock. 

Take one pint of Indian meal, and stir into it a pint 
of sour milk, half a teaspoonful of salt, a spoonful of 
molasses, and a spoonful of melted butter. Beat two eggs 
and add, and then stir in a pint of wheat flour. Then 



CHEAP DISHES. 293 

thin it with miik to the consistency of drop cakes, and 
when ready to bake, stir in a heaping teaspoonful of 
salaratus dissolved in hot water. Pour into square but- 
tered tins an inch thick, and bake fifteen minutes. 

Egg and Bread. 

Put bread crumbs into a sauce pan, with cream, salt, 
and pepper, and a little grated nutmeg. When the 
bread has absorbed the cream, break in eight eggs and 
fry it like an omelet, or bake it in buttered tins, or muf- 
fin rings. 

Floating Island. 

Beat the whites of eggs till very stiff, then put in one 
tablespoonful of some acid jelly for each white, and beat 
it a good while. Boil rich sweetened milk, and put it 
in a glass dish, and when cold : put the jelly and eggs 
on the top. 

A New Mode of cooking Cucumbers. 

Pare them, cut them in quarters lengthwise, dip them 
in corn meal or wheat flour, pepper and salt them, and 
then fry them brown, and they are very fine. 

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